Through Dragons Eyes
by Kaira Fire-Demon
Summary: About a year after FFIX ends, a new quest begins to take place. However, this time it's not about Zidane's past, it's about Blank's. Now they must search to discover the connection between Blank and a mysterious man threatening to kill him and the others.
1. The Day We Met

Okay, this is my first fan fiction, so I appoligize for any mistakes. I love final fantasy IX and I've been working on this fan fic for some time now. For some reason, Blank is my favorite character. I don't know why, but he is. So I wanted to write a story about him. But don't worry the main characters of the game (such as Zidane and Dagger) _do_ came into the story eventually. And I'm sorry if the first few chapters are slightly boring; it'll get better as the story moves on. I don't really explain much in the beginning either, so if you don't understand what's going on, don't worry...you will! Anywho, here's my fan fiction and I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter One  
The Day We Met

Blank sat on the floor next to Marcus at the foot of Cinna's bed. The members of Tantalus had been staying at the Treno inn for the past few days, preparing for their latest play "The Touch of Revenge."It was now one o'clock in the afternoon; Cinna slept noisily in his bed, while Blank stared at him intently underneath his blindfold. Blank growled under his breath, and turned to Baku, who was sitting in a wooden chair across the room.

"Oh my god! PleaseBoss, can I just whack him with thehilt ofmy sword or something!"Blank impatiently asked Baku for the third time. "He's been asleep all freakin' morning!"

"No!" responded Baku. "And if you ask me again, I'll come over there and give you a good poundin'." Cinna had recently had surgery and wasn't sleeping well, so Baku decided to let him sleep in for once (A/N wow, Baku being sympathetic? Who woulda thought?).

Blank frowned. But with a sigh, he reluctantly obeyed. Cinna made a grunting noise in his sleep, sounding as if he was about to wake up, and Blank turned to Cinna's bed, hoping he would. But he didn't. He just rolled over on his side in a heavy sleep.

"Ugh, I can't take it anymore", Blank said as he leaned against the wall of the room.

"For once, I agree with Blank", Ruby said in that strange southern accent of hers as she walked into the room. "Cinna's slept long enough. Baku, we've got rehearsing to do, and if you don't wake him up, I'll gosh darn go do it myself!".

"Hear hear!", Marcus jokingly agreed.

"Yeah. Well put, Ruby". Blank did a double take. "Wait, you're agreeing with me?" he asked her.

Marcus chuckled. "Well, there's a first."

"And probably a last", Blank added, laughing.

"Agreed. That was a once in a lifetime thing", Ruby said to them.

"Well, it would have been if you hadn't just agreed with him about never agreeing again", Marcus stubbornly said as he and Blank started laughing harder. Making fun of Ruby was one of their favorite things to do. After all, Tantalus was a family, and what's a family without sibling rivalry?

"Oh, shut up, ya little brats!", she yelled at them.

"Ugh . . . Huh? What's with all the yelling?", Cinna sleepily asked.

Ruby sighed in relief. " Finally, that big oaf is awake."

Suddenly, Benero burst through the door into the room. "Oh, good. Cinna's awake now".

"What'd ya rush in here for, Benero? Is the inn on fire? Gwahaha!" (A/N corny, i know, but that's Baku for ya).Baku jokingly asked him, laughing in that weird way he laughs.

"Boss, if we're gonna be ready for this play later, then we really need to get over to the theatre and start rehearsing."

"That's what I've been trying to tell them for the past ten minutes!" replied Ruby.

"Well, what are you three buffoons waiting for? Cinna! Blank! Marcus! Get your lazyasses over to the theatre!" Baku yelled as he walked out the door with Ruby and Benero.

Marcus and Blank waited outside the room for Cinna to finish getting ready. Blank stood leaning against the wall with his arms folded, while Marcus sat on the floor next to him; neither one saying anything to the other. Marcus looked up at Blank, who was staring down at the floor with a vague expression on his face. The same blank expression that had won him over his name eleven years ago, when he first met Baku and the other members of Tantalus who were there at the time. Marcus thought back to when they first met Blank...

(flash back)

"It was last Monday that the ship docked at the harbor", the regent of Lindblum explained to Baku, who happened to be a close friend of Regent Cid. "The captain of the ship said that one of the members of his crew found the boy lying on the shore of the island they stopped at before they came here.The boy was unconscious at the time, and had many cuts and bruises on him, as you'll soon see. The crew member, being the caring person that he was, didn't want to leave the young boy all by himself, so he carried him back to the ship with him. The captain was hesitant at first about taking the boy with them, not knowing if he would be hard to care for. But once the captain agreed, they set sail back to Lindblum along with the boy."

Marcus, who was standing next to Baku, was beginning to grow bored with the regent's story and wanted to wander around the Grand castle; however, he knew if he tried to leave, Baku would not be too happy with him, and making Baku mad was not something he wanted to do. So with no way to escape, Marcus let out a loud sigh and continued to listen to what the regent had to say.

"It turned out", Cid continued, "that they didn't have to worry about taking care of him after all. Well, except for tending to his injuries. Anyway, he awoke the day after they arrived. When I saw him open his eyes while regaining consciousness, I have to say I was in shock. I've never seen eyes like his before. They were blood red, as if they belonged on some kind of demon. Even the cornea of his eyes are red. I've realized now that he doesn't like people to see his eyes; and, I don't know if I'm right, but I think he might be blind."

"Well…why don't you ask him?" Baku suggested. "And why are you telling me all this, all about this nameless boy you found?"

"I've tried asking him", explained Cid, "but he wont talk. And the reason I'm telling you all this  
is . . . well . . . I was kinda hoping that maybe you'd let him be a part of Tantalus."

"What!" Baku and Marcus both exclaimed at the same time.

"Now hold on just a minute," Regent Cid interrupted just as Baku was about to say something. "I know he doesn't sound like much; but before you make up your mind, at least let me tell you that he's a very good actor, and he's stolen from probably every guard here without most of them ever noticing. So either he's an exceptionally talented thief, or I need to work on my security. I'd noticed him stealing from them, but I didn't say anything. To be perfectly honest, I was quite entertained by it; seeing a six or seven year old boy out smarting castle guards. Especially since he steals blindly; even if he's not blind, his eyes are always closed."

Cid paused for a minute to study Baku's expression. He looked as if he was paying attention, however Cid still wasn't sure if Baku would agree to take the boy or not.

"Baku please, give the boy a chance. I really believe that he would be helpful to you. I don't know what else to do with him, and I think he'd be a good addition to your crew."Cid waited for a response from Baku, but got none; Baku just stood there in front of Cid, staring at the floor as if pondering what he should do.

All was silent, with nothing but the sound of the guards' clanking armor and sky-borne air ships in the back round. Marcus stared at baku intently, knowing by the look on his face what he was thinking.

"I can't believe you're actuallyconsidering letting this freak join Tantalus!" the twelve year old boy complained.

"Well, I can't believe it either," Baku replied slowly. "But I am."

Marcus just glared at his boss, then sharply turned his head away in displeasure. Marcus didn't like change, he never had. Every time Baku tried to accept someone new into Tantalus, Marcus would try to think of every reason he could as to why Baku shouldn't. He didn't want to have to get used to having a total stranger around.

"Okay, Cid. Bring the boy here and let me see him. And Marcus, if you ever glare at me like that again, I'll give you the worst beating you've ever had."

At hearing this, Marcus stepped backand reluctantly obeyed his boss. Cid summoned his wife, Hilda, and asked her to bring the nameless orphan down to them.

When she returned with the boy, the first thing Baku noticed was that he was exactly as Cid had described. He kept his eyes closed at all times. It was as if he thought, if he opened them he would die or something else terrible like that would happen. He and Marcus were both in shock by the huge gashes and bruises he had all over his fragile, six year old body. He had crimson colored hair, and was wearing red, denim pants with a white T-shirt that was way too big for him.

Baku walked over to the boy, who took a few steps back, knowing that someone was approaching him. He kept his eyes closed with his head bowed towards the floor as Baku examined him. When Baku touched his arm, the boy flinched, quickly pulling his arm away.

"Calm down, boy. You don't have to be afraid of me," Baku tried to relax him. Baku guessed that the boy was probably in a lot of pain from his injuries, despite Hilda doing her best to treat him. Even though he couldn't see his eyes, Baku could tell that the boy was insulted by him thinking that he was afraid. "Well, the lad's got quick reflexes, so he _would_ probably be a good fighter," Baku said to Cid."You said he's good at thieving?"

Cid chuckled slightly. "Oh, he's very good at thieving. I can guarantee you of that."

". . . Alright then. We'll train him a little and see how things work out."

"Oh, thank you Baku!" Cid turned to face the boy. "Did you hear that? This guy's gonna give you a home."

"Hmph," the boy exclaimed, unsatisfied.

"Grr. . . That little bastard!" Marcus jumped in. "He doesn't even wanna come with us, Baku!"

"Well, I don't care what he wants. He's coming whether he likes it or not." Baku looked at the boy sternly. "Marcus, head back to the clock tower. I'll deal with your attitude and the fact that you just called me by my first name later."

The nameless boy snickered at hearing Marcus get scolded.

"What are you laughing at!" Marcus yelled at him.

"Sorry. I was just enjoying hearing you make an idiot out of yourself," the boy replied, shocking everyone.

"You can talk?" the regent asked (A/N it's a stupid question, if you ask me, since he had just heard him talk). The boy didn't reply.

"You little bastard!" Marcus continued to yell at the orphan.

"Is that the best you can do?" the boy teased. "Being called that doesn't phase me anymore..." As he said this, the boy's face lost all form of emotion. It just went '_blank_.'

"Marcus, I told you to leave!" Baku interrupted with a loud yell. "Now go!" he ordered. Marcus shrunk back and slowly walked away, heading back out of the Lindblum Grand Castle towards the Theatre District. Baku turned back toward the orphan and sighed. "Apparently, I'm going to have to deal with your attitude as well."

Later that night, after Baku had brought the orphan back to the Tantalus hide out and gave Marcus his punishment, he and the other members of Tantalus sat around in the main room with nothing to do.

"So, Marcus, I heard the new recruit showed you a thing or two about smart-mouthing back at the castle", Cinna, who was nineteen at the time, teased Marcus.

Marcus replied with a "humph" and angrily looked away. "He's all talk," he tried to convince them.

"Hmph, That's what you think," the orphan replied from the other side of the room. "I'm more than willing to prove you wrong anytime."

"Oh yeah!" Marcus stood up as if ready to fight there and then.

The orphan didn't answer; he just stared at the floor blankly, the same blank stare that baku had noticed about him from the beginning.

"Blank!" Zenero said suddenly.

Everyone turned to face Zenny ( that was his nickname).

"Say what?" Cinna asked.

"Well, he needs a name doesn't he? I think that's what we should call him."

"Blank?" the orphan said in confusion.

"I like it," Baku added.

"Why?" the boy asked.

"Well, it just seems to fit you," answered Zenero, Baku nodding his head in agreement.

"Blank . . . ," the orphan, who was now known as Blank, said slowly.

(end flash back)

"Cinna, are you almost ready?" Blank yelled through the door to Cinna, waking Marcus from his day dream. "We're gonna be in major trouble with Boss if we're late."

Cinna hurriedly rushed out of the room. "Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go." And the three of them left for Treno Theatre.

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So, how did you like the first chapter? I know it was probably too long. I don't know about you, butI don't like reading stuff that's that long. Heh, oh well. I hope _you_ didn't mind. Please review and tell me what you thought!


	2. Suppose to be Dead

Hey everyone, I'm back. Sorry about the last chapter being all bunched together. This is my first fan fiction, so I couldn't figure out how to indent the paragraphs. (heh heh) Hopefully I'll be able to fix that this chapter and maybe go back and fix the last one. But, if it doesn't work would somebody please tell me how to do that.

You know this is kinda funny I was doing my science homework today about the periodic table of elements( is it just me, or is that not the MOST ANNOYING thing in the history of school) Anyway, one of the elements was called 'tantalum'. I thought that was funny cuz it sounds like Tantalus HA HA isn't that funny? . . . --silence-- . . . isn't it? . . . Ok, yea, shutting up now.

OH, OH, and I also wanna thank Aisler, my first reviewer! I don't know you, but YOU ARE MY NEW BEST FRIEND! OMG when I read your review, I swear, I couldn't stop smiling. I was soooooooo happy. Thank you sooo much! And I'd also like to thank Linker27 for reviewing. Yeah, I know I didn't explain much in the last chapter, but it'll all make sense eventually. Anywho, I love ur fic so, don't worry, I'l definitely keep reviewing. And as for that idea u have for a fic about Blank, I'm sure it doesn't suck (I mean heck, it's about Blank. Nothing that's about Blank sucks) lol. And, my last review is from wildflower92490 (AKA Jaime) heh, don't worry, u'll understand a whole lot more after you play the game. Luv ya, Jaime.

Disclaimer: Disclaimers are so pointless. Of course I don't own FFIX, darn it! And, anyone who claims that they do, I just have one thing to say to you . . . POSER! You should just go $&#& up your $&# you stupid &!&#$ . . . . --shifty eyes-- --puppy face-- What! I didn't say anything...  
Just kidding, I don't cuss . . . much. Lol

****

Chapter Two  
"Suppose to be Dead"

  
The whole way to the theatre, Marcus said nothing. He was still deep in thought about the past. He still couldn't believe that he and Blank used to hate each other. Marcus had already had to get used to Zidane joining Tantalus a year before Blank, so it was hard for him to have to get used to Blank as well.

"Hey Marcus," Blank once again woke him up from his thoughts. " Is something wrong? You haven't said much since we left the inn."

"Oh. No, nothings wrong." Marcus answered."I was just thinking."

"About what?" Blank asked.

" . . . I don't know."

"How can you not know what you were thinking about? I don't think I know how to do that. That's like talking and not knowing what you're saying . . . Oh wait, I've done that. . . . never mind."

Marcus smiled, laughing at Blank. Blank had always been the clown in the group, the comic relief when everyone was feeling down. Nobody knew how to make people laugh like he did. Which was bad for Blank, because whenever _he_ was depressed about something, nobody wasas good atcheeringhim up or making him laugh.But, luckily, he's rarely ever sad. He can't be sad when it's his responsibility to lighten the mood of those around him.

"Come on, people," Baku yelled to everyone from the stage. "Let's get started . We need to get enough rehearsal time in before the play tonight".

After rehearsing for four hours and then eating dinner(Cinna was starving by then since he had slept through breakfast and lunch), the members of Tantalus sat back stage as the seats in the audience continued to fill.

"Ok, everyone," Baku stood up to give them all a quick pep talk. "We've been practicing for months, so let's get out there and kick some major ass. Let's go show these nobles what _real_ acting looks like." With that said, Baku stepped out onto the stage and the play began.

"Ladies and gentlemen, tonights performance takes place long ago. It's a tale about a peasant boy, named Zidane, who lived with his older brothers and their father. Zidane was his fathers favorite son. He loved Zidane more than any of his brothers. But, one day, when their father confesses his favoritism to Zidane andhis sixbrothers, his brothers let jealousy take control and they attempt to murder their beloved brother."

"Why can't we just kill him now and get it done with?" the eldest brother,Cinna, asked. "We wouldn't have to tell Father."

"Yes, we would. What would we tell Father when he noticed his favorite son was missing?" their other brother, Genero, asked.

"I've got an idea," said Marcus. "We can lead him into the woods, kill him and come back to the house to tell Father that a wild animal killed him. And, although we 'tried to help', we couldn't do anything about it." The rest of the boys nodded there heads in agreement. All except for Blank, who was the second youngest in their family (A/N remember, this is just a play. They're not really brothers, besides the nero bros, and this isn't their _real _order of age).

So the next day, the boys took Zidane deep into the woods, claiming they wanted to show him something. Zidane, being the naïve boy that he was, eagerly followed.

During the next scene, Marcus was suppose to attempt to kill Zidane, and Blank was suppose to stop him, but Marcus looked around and noticed that Blank wasn't there. He took a glance back stage to see both Cinna and Blank bleeding and struggling to stand.Marcus quickly slipped off stage to see what was going on. On his way over to help them, he pulled the curtain closed, which caused a great comotion in the audience.

"Blank! Cinna! Are you two alright?" ha asked as he ran over to them.

"Marcus stop!" Blank yelled to him. Marcus's gaze followed Blank's, and he looked up to see a tall man dressed in black armor in front of them. The man had short red hair and a blood stained sword in his left hand.

"YOU!" the mysterious man yelled as he took a few more steps towards the three boys. The man growled angrily to himself and then started yelling again. "You were suppose to be dead!" He continued to walk forward, but stopped once he got a few feet away from Blank, who was still lying on the floor in pain from the man's sneak attack. Cinna waskneeling on the floor a few feet behind Blank. He had been struck by the man's sword as well whenhe had tried to helpBlank"I'll kill you, now," he said to Blankas Blank pleadingly looked up at him. "I'LL MAKE SURE YOU'RE DEAD THIS TIME!" the man said as he raised his sword. Blank braced himself, but then he heard an "ughf" and a thud on the floor. Blank looked up again to see Baku standing there with his fist on the man's stomach. The mysterious man was now kneeling on the floor in pain, gasping for breath.

The man slowly and painfully got up (anybody would have trouble getting up after one of _Baku's_ punches). He stepped backwards, away from Baku. "I could easily kill you all right now," the man said in his sinister toned voice. "And I _will _kill you, all of you," the man turned to Blank, "And I'll make sure that _you_ die the most torturous death of all." With that said, the man turned around and walked towards the back exit of the theatre.

"Hold on, you!" Baku yelled after the man. "You can't just come in here and through my boys around!" The man payed no attention to Baku, he just kept walking, not even looking back. Blank glared, getting up suddenly and running after him; but once Blank got out the back door of the theatre, the mysterious man was nowhere to be found, vanishing into thin air.

"Damn it," Blank cursed to himself. "Who the hell was that?"

"Well, he seemed to know who _you_ were," Zidane said,pointing out the obvious.

" . . ." Blank didn't know what to say, he _had_ nothing to say. He was so confused trying to figure out who this man might have been.

"Come on Blank, we've still got a play to finish. We'll try to figure this out after we fly back to Lindblum," Baku said as they prepared to step back out into the spotlight and finish their performance.

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So, what do u think? Yea, I know I kinda left it without much explanation, but don't worry everything will be explained in due time. Anyways, I really hope u enjoyed it and please review. I LUV U PPL! (heh, suckers, no I don't) hee hee just kidding!


	3. Kaira the Fire Wolf

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait, but I got lazy and forgot about you. But I'm back now and with a new chapter, so I hope you enjoy it.

And now for my reviewers!

Aisler : Um I'm not sure if I know what it isyou were talking about inyour review. My friend told me what she thoughtyou meant, something about showing when someone is doing an action or something like that. Well, if that's wasyou were trying to say I need to fix, then I haven't been doing that. I already know that it doesn't letyou use the star symbols and even if it did why would anyone wanna put something like (walks forward) or (looks up) or wutever in their fan fic. Showing when someone is doing an action is just stupid ifyou do it like that. And I'm not insulting YOU by saying this (at least I'm not trying to and I apologize if I am) I'm just saying that I wasn't doing that in my fic. I'm trying to write it more like the way a novel would be written. And, again, I'm not saying ANYTHING againstyou oryour review and I'm more than happy to answer any other questions or complaints of anyones. And about the last thing you said, the thing about who the evil dude is . . . DID I REALLY MAKE IT THAT OBVIOUS! How did you figure that out! Lol oh well, I was gonna reveal that in the next few chapters anyway. I still luv getting'your reviews! They always cheer me up or make me laugh.

Linker 27: . . . . . You also figured out something you weren't suppose to figure out yet! Lol, I guess I really need to make things less obvious (either that, or you and Aisler are just psychic). Lol, oh well. I would answer your questions for you but . . . I don't wanna give anything away. Heh, sorry. But as I'm sure you guessed, the answer to one of your questions was yes (and it shouldn't be hard to figure out which one, since only one of those questions was a yes or no question). Heh heh! By the way, I readyour author bio thingy. "little poems about death" huh? All I have to say is SWEET! I right poems like that too.You actually sound a lot like me. Sorry, that was just a little thing I noticed and wanted to point out. Anyway, I luv readingyour reviews, they as well always cheer me up.

(heh, I'm gonna go ahead and say that all of my reviews "cheer me up" so now I don't have to say it over and over again)

Gem: Hey, thanx for the review. I hopeyou continue to like my story, and ifyou wanna know who the weird guy is just read Aisler's review ( man, how the hell did he figure that out!). Hee hee oh well.

Tranquil echo: Thanx for the encouraging words. I really appreciate it. I hopeyou do like my fic.  
P.S. I started reading one of your stories, "Looking Back," but I never finished reading it. I need to go back and do that. It looks like a pretty good story. Well, anyway I hopeyou keep reviewing.

Disclaimer: No, we're not goin' through THAT again! All I have to say is I added an Inuyasha character in (don't worry if you've never seen that show, cuz you'll still understand what's going on) and I don't own her, but I do own Kaira (hence my username)

**  
Chapter 3  
Kaira The Fire Demon **

After the performance on October 3, the gang stayed in Treno for another night, then headed back to Lindblum. It had been four days now and nobody had brought up the "incident," although everyone was thinking about it.

"Hey Blank," Marcus quietly called to him one night while they were trying to sleep. "Try to get some sleep. Okay? Stop worrying about it so much" Their beds were right next to each other, Zidane's and Cinna's across the room from them in a square shaped room that they slept in at the Clock Tower.

"I'm not worried," Blank stated. "I'm just curious beyond all measures."

"Well, just don't let it bug you too much." After that, the conversation abruptly ended and the two of them went back to trying to fall asleep (which was still hard to do with Cinna snoring).

The next morning, Blank and Marcus went for a walk around Lindblum; having been sent by Baku to do some errands. The streets of Lindblum were busy with people as it always was. People buying and selling at the markets. Tourists coming and going. This was all typical in Lindblum.

As they walked on, they saw a teenage girl walking past a small pub. The girl had long, straight, red hair; a tight, low cut (perhaps too low cut), red shirt; and black jeans. But the thing that stuck out the most about her were her black wolf ears and tail.

"Hey isn't that the girl we saw yesterday?" Blank asked Marcus.

"Blank, you amaze me with the way you can recognize people through those blind eyes of yours," Marcus complimented, somewhat stunned by Blank's odd talent. "But yeah," he continued, " That _is_ her. The one who helped that little girl yesterday."

(flash back)

Marcus, Blank, Cinna, Ruby, and Zidane had been hanging out near the Theatre District when they heard the sound of a little girl crying loudly.

"Give me back my card!" the little five year old cried. An older man standing next to her held up an Alexander Card just out of the girls reach, taunting her with it (you know what I mean be 'card' right? Tetra Master. Yeah, I know, stupid question. Okay, I'll continue now).

The five of them were just about to go and help the little girl, when they realized that someone else had beat them to it.

"I don't know much about kids, but I don't think crying is what they do when they're having fun." said a teenage girl with long, red hair. A small, tan colored cat with two tails, black markings, and demonic red eyes stood beside the woman, hissing.

The man turned around to face whoever was challenging him. "Oh, what do you know, ya bitch!" the man cursed at her.

"I know that if you don't give that card back, someone's gonna get hurt and I guarantee it'll be you."

"Oh, I'm so scared," the man sarcastically made fun of her.

"You shouldn't take me so lightly," she warned.

"What could a chic like you possibly do?"

"You're about to find out." As she said this, two feathery black wings appeared over her back. She quickly flew up into the air and the man lost sight of her. He turned around just in time to see her reach out and grab his neck with her clawed hand. The man's expression suddenly turned to fear, then he noticed her grip loosen and her expression lighten.

"You're not worth my time," she said out of the blue, folding her wings back behind her. "Kilala," she called for her cat, "Attack him! But don't kill him." she walked away from the man and her cat stepped forward.

The man smiled, then burst out laughing. " Are you out of your mind? Do you actually think that that pathetic excuse for a cat can hurt me!" He turned back around to face Kilala. She hissed aggressively at him, growing suddenly into a huge cat the size of a small horse( she still looked the same other than her size and her huge, saber toothed fangs). The man's facial expression changed once again at the sight of such an enormous feline. Kilala lunged herself at the man, landing on top of him. The man screamed and surrendered.

"Okay, okay, I give up! Call off this monster of yours!"

The crimson haired girl smiled at Kilala's victory. "Kilala, come. Get off of him now." Being the loyal kitty she was, Kilala shrunk back to her normal size and ran over to the woman. "Now, give back that card!" she said, glaring at the man, who obeyed her without hesitation. He handed the Alexander Card back to the little girl, and ran off in the other direction. "See Kilala?" the teen looked down upon her cat, " I knew he wasn't worth my time."

"Thank you!" The little girl hesitantly walked over to the stranger who had helped her out.

"Eh, no problem. I've handled guys a lot worse than him." With that, the woman walked away with Kilala following closely behind.

The whole time Zidane and the others had been watching, unnoticed by anyone.

(end flash back)

"I wonder who she is," Blank said curiously.

"Yeah, I agree. She's an awesome fighter," Marcus added.

The two of them went on with their business, ignoring the strange girl standing across the street from them. Marcus went inside the store to get a few things for Baku, and Blank stayed outside, waiting patiently.

"What's a girl like you doing hanging out around a pub like this," a drunken man asked the girl. Blank looked up and watched from where he was standing. (I don't really know how to explain how Blank can see. He cant actually see, but he can make out objects and their form and stuff like that. He cant see colors though, cause he _is_ blind. I guess it's kind of like a psychic type thing)

"You could get hurt, baby," the drunkard continued.

The girl looked up at the group of drunken men standing before her. "Hmph, don't _ever_ call me that!" she said in a quiet, menacing voice.

"Oh, listen to that boys. She thinks she has a say in what we call her." The men behind him started laughing, which only pissed the girl off more.

Then a smile suddenly broke across her face. "You think that _I_ could get hurt? Oh, it's _you _who'll be getting hurt if you don't get out of my sight," she calmly replied, not even lifting her head to glance at the man.

The drunkard jeered at the girl. "YOU BITCH!"

"Well, there's a name I haven't been called since . . . yesterday." the girl joked. This enraged the man. He charged at her like a raging bull. But, once again, she was too fast for her opponent. She quickly stepped out of his way, tripping him as she moved. The man fell forward on the pavement. The girl grabbed her sword from its sheath, pointing the tip down at the man's neck. " So, do you still think I might get hurt?" she confidently asked the man lying on the ground in front of her. "If you're gonna challenge someone," the girl stated as she slid her sword back into its sheath, "At least challenge someone who's in yourown league." She then kicked the man in the side and walked away from him. Although the man wasn't injured he was too drunk to get up and fight back.

"Great," one of the other men said sarcastically. " The only thing worse than a bitch is a bitch who can kick ass."

At hearing that, the girl smiled and walked away casually, as if nothing had happened.

Blank had continued to watch her the whole time, and now watched her as she walked by him. _Who is she, _he thought to himself_. Well, she's definitely a good fighter. That's for sure. And she's kinda hot too. Well, I mean, from what I can tell. Not that I can actually SEE her.  
_

"Okay Blank, I got the stuff. We can head back now," Marcus said as he walked out of the store. "Hey what was all that noise out here?"

"Oh, just a little fight outside the pub. "

"It didn't happen to have anything to do with that stranger, did it?"

"If by that you mean the new girl in town, of course it did."

Marcus smiled "I wonder if she'd be willing to join Tantalus," he joked. "She's definitely got that out-going personality a thief would need." The two of them laughed a little, then walked back to the Clock Tower.

As night fell on Lindblum, Blank and the others sat around there makeshift kitchen finishing up dinner, when Blank lifted his head up and started sniffing the air. (that's another thing I hadn't mentioned yet. Blank has the ability to sense blood. He can smell the difference between the smell of one persons blood from another's)

"What do you smell, Blank?" Zidane asked, slightly humored at the way Blank sniffed.

"I don't know, but I know I've smelled this before." then the realization suddenly struck Blank as he widened his eyes in disbelief. "It's him…" he replied. Blank walked out the door, following the smell of this familiar blood, everyone else following behind him. As they turned another corner, they once again saw the wolf-like wanderer with the long, red hair. She stood behind a man, attempting to steal his wallet from his pocket. Blank was temporarily distracted from what he was doing, he now stood and watched her, as did the rest of Tantalus. The girl had successfully stolen the wallet but then gave herself away by saying "What kind of person carries a wallet with no money in it!" The man then checked his pocket to make sure she wasn't talking about his, and discovered she was. He turned around and glared at the girl

"Uhh . . . heh . . . Here, you dropped this," she handed him back his wallet and quickly walked away in the other direction.

"She should join Tantalus, huh?" Blank joked at Marcus. "She doesn't even know how to thieve."

"Blank, I was kidding when I said that."

Blank turned back around to see where she had gone, but instead Blank now saw "him," the one who had tried to kill him back in Treno.

"Kaira," he heard the man call. Blank looked back at where the girl had been standing to see her still there, staring dumbfoundedly at the stranger in black.

"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" she asked the man before her.

"Oh, you know me. Take a closer look at me. You know me oh too well, Kaira."

She continued staring at the man. "um, sorry. I've never seen you before."

"Well, although you don't know me, you know a little about my past, and I know everything about yours."

" . . . Well, that's disturbing. Now tell me who you are."

"My name . . . is Garron." The man snickered. "Do you recognize me now?" he asked, smiling sinisterly.

Kaira stood wide-eyed, staring at the man. "Garron?" she said in shock.

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Eh heh heh. I normally don't leave a chapter like that, but it was getting too long. I didn't want the chapter to be too long. But anyway, atleast now you've got a little bit more info about what's goin' on in this whole thing. Hope you enjoyed it and hope it wont take me as long to make the next chapter as it did this one. Lol.  
Oh, and for any Inuyasha fans who may be reading this. I know that Kilala's name is actually spelled Kirara, but it's pronounced like an "L" in the english version, so I would rather not confuse people by spelling it differently than it's pronounced.


	4. Joining Forces

Okay, sorry about ending the last chapter like that. I'll try not to do that again. Anyway . . . Oh my gosh! I'm such an idiot! I can't believe I didn't realize I did this! Why didn't any of you tell me that I spelled "Blank" wrong in my summary. Of all the words to spell wrong . . . Blank! How does one spell blank wrong. I knew I was bad at spelling, but that's just pathetic! Anyway, yeah, I'm gonna change that ASAP. . . . I still can't believe I did that . . . How embarrassing.

Aisler : I'm sorry, Aisler. I went back and read over my fan fic and I realized that I _did_ do that little "action command" thingy; but not in my actual fan fiction, it was in my disclaimer. Hmm, oh well. At least I didn't insult you at all. I'm glad. And I really appreciate your compliments. They 're very encouraging. I'm also glad I'm not making the story too obvious (for a while there, it definitely felt like I was since you and Linker27 both figured out something that I hadn't mentioned in the story yet). As for Garron and Blank, you're gonna have to wait a bit longer to find that one out. Sorry. I'm happy that there are people out there who find my fan fic interesting and hopefully exciting once the story gets going.  
P.S. uhh gee, as much as I appreciate you telling me your gender, I kind of already knew that. That's what author bios are for. Lol sry if I embarrass you at all by saying that.

Linker27 : YAY! I'm sooo happy you like my fic! Your enthusiasm definitely encourages me to keep writing. THANK YOU!

Gem : Nope, it's not his sister, but that was a good guess. I did make her look kind of like Blank since she has red hair and all. That was juat a coincidence. And don't worry, I'm not gonna stop writing until this story is over. Thanx for the review!

Disclaimer : BUUUUUURRRRRRNN! . . . . . . . . . . . . Hee hee . . . Fire!

Chapter four  
Joining Forces

"My name . . . is Garron." The man snickered. "Do you recognize me now?" he asked, smiling sinisterly.

Kaira stood wide-eyes, staring at the man. "Garron?" she said in shock.

"That's right Kaira, the man who destroyed your home and enslaved your people for years."

"Yeah, I've heard all about you and what you did to them. But ... I wasn't even there when it happened. I didn't live with the Gerudo until about a year after you left, I've only heard stories of you and what you did to them," she replied, referring to the group of people that she lived with (Yes, I took that from Zelda, but I don't own them either). "And what do you mean by you know 'all about my past'!" she started getting frustrated with him.

But the man ignored her, he was focused on something behind her. The girl turned around to see what he was looking at.

"Ahh, how convenient!" Garron exclaimed. "The two people I want to kill just so happen to be in the same place at the same time. Well Blank, that saves me the trouble of trying to find you again." Blank just stood there, glaring at him with a massive hatred burning behind his blindfold.

Kaira stared at Blank, puzzled at what was going on. "So why do you want _him_ dead?" she asked as she turned back to face Garron. " . . . HEY WAIT A MINUTE! Why do you want ME dead! Answer that question first!"

"Like I said, Kaira. I know all about your past, further back than you can remember. To the parts of your past that have been erased from your memory." The baffled girl continued standing there, not saying a word. She didn't know how to reply to something like that.

"Stop speaking in riddles and tell us what the hell you want?" Blank interrupted, getting frustrated and annoyed with the shadowy armored man. "How do you know us?"

"All these questions and more will be answered in due time, my son. But not until I get to see you both suffer a little." Once again, Garron got the last word, turning away and disappearing into the crowded streets.

"Oh ok. As long as all you wanna do is torture us, then i guess it's alright with me," Kaira joked, wondering to herself how she could still joke around at a time like this. Altough, she never _could_ take things seriously.

"Son?" Blank stood staring out in the direction of the man's leave, his expression now the same as the bewildered girl in front of him.

The girl then turned around to face Blank and the others. "So, uh . . . I take it you know this freak."

"Not exactly," replied Blank.

"Yeah," Zidane added, "We're just as lost about who he is as you are."

" . . . No, I think you're _more_ lost than I am."

"Well, maybe you could fill us in then, tell us what you know," suggested Marcus, although he wasn't sure if that would help much.

"You boys are bein' so rude!" Ruby butted in after staying quiet the whole time. "Ya'll er askin' the poor cowgirl fer so much and not even askin' her if she's got a place to stay." Ruby sighed.  
"Men never ask the important questions." Then Ruby started ranting a little about how guys never do anything right, until Kaira finally shut her up.

"Anyway, thanks for asking, but I think I'll manage. Kilala and I have been traveling for a while now, and we've had to cope with some pretty bad resting spots. So don't waste your time worrying about us."

"Oh give me a break!" Zidane reentered the conversation, "If you've been traveling alone and roughing it for so long, then you can't possibly say that you don't want a nice, warm bed to sleep in for once .. . I mean, not that I'm talking about the same bed as someone else. You can have your own bed. Unless, of course, you _want_ to sleep in the same bed as someone else; and if that's the case than I'll be more than happy to-"

"Zidane, shut up while you're ahead!" Baku interupted him just in time. Zidane had gotten better about being a "one woman man" since he had gotten together with Garnet, but he still couldn't help himself sometimes. Old habits are hard to break.

**"**Um...well, I guess a place to stay _would_ be nice."

"And don't you wanna know more about that mystery bastard?" added Baku. "If you stay with us, we can help each other out."

Kaira thought about this a moment, not sure what to do. She had been raised by a group of all female bandits, so she didn't look too highly of men. _Well they seem harmless enough, _she thought to herself._I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything to stay with them.Besides, they saw how good I fight. I don't think they're stupid enough to try anything. _"Okay, I'll come with you and tell you what I can. But I can't guarantee if I'll br able to help you or not."

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lol, first I leave you with a cliff hanger and now I leave you with a real short chapter. I'm not being very nice am I? Ha ha, oh well! . . . Just kidding! I was in a hurry to update so I left the chapter about half the size I normally make them. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter and I hope I update soon! Please, review and tell me what you think.


	5. The Eyes of a Demon

Yeah I'm back again. I'm so glad I was FINALLY able to edit my previous chapters. having that new export thing was like getting the answer to my prayers. YAY!!! Anyway, here's the next chapter. Hope you like it!

**  
Chapter five**  
**The Eyes of a "Demon"**

"Okay Kaira, you can sleep in this room here in the bed next to mine," Ruby offered gesturing to two beds on an overhang in the main room. "It'll be nice to have another girl here. It'll be like a sleepover!"

"I never said I would stay here," Kaira pointed out. "I'm only staying until I find out more about this Garron."

Ruby fell silent, slightly taken aback by the comment, but not letting it show. The others sat down in the few chairs they had in the room, or (if they were too slow to get to a chair) they sat on the floor close enough to hear what Kaira had to say.

"So tell us what you know." Blank insisted rudely. "What did he mean when he said 'the man who destroyed your home'?"

"He meant exactly what he said." Kaira's expression darkened. "Before I came to live with the Gerudos, those are the people that raised me, a man named Garron appeared on their island. Although the Gerudos are good fighters, he was too much for them to handle. He took control of their small society, enslaving them. They were forced to do his every command. And when they refused, the penalty was death. So they did what they could to keep their lives. Until one day he just left. I was never told why he left, maybe they don't even know why he left. But anyway, after being slaves to this man for seven years, the Gerudos' were finally set free, to live as thieves once again. Unfortunately, that's all I know."

"Thieves?" Marcus asked

Kaira blinked. "uh, yeah. Do you have a problem with my being a thief. I'm not gonna steal anything from you people. From the looks of it, you don't have anything worth stealing anyway."

Baku laughed. "As much as I resent that comment, we don't care that you're a thief. It just so happens we are too."

"Really? What an odd coincidence." The girl looked around the run-down house Tantalus lived in. "Well, if you're all thieves, then you must be really bad at it; 'cause there's nothing of any value here."

Bakuglared at Kaira, but kept his composure. "Well, the only way I can think of finding anything else out about this guy," Baku decided, "is if we go to this island of Kaira's."

"uhh…" Kaira tried to say something, but was cut off in mid-sentence.

"That's a great idea Boss!" Cinna butted in. "I say we go."

"Well…" she tried again.

"Then it's settled," Blank had interrupted this time. "Let's go!"

" . . . " Realizing she wasn't going to get her say, Kaira gave up on trying to talk. She then got up and walked towards the door.

"Where ya goin' suga'?" Ruby asked her, finding it slightly rude of her to just get up and leave, yet still speaking in a polite and welcoming voice.

"I . . . just want some fresh air. Thought I'd go for a walk if that's okay."

Ruby could see in Kaira's eyes that something was bothering her. And although Ruby's first impression of Kaira wasn't that great, she still wanted to make her feel welcome. _Curse my good heart! _Ruby thought to herself. "…May I join you?" She reluctantly asked.

"Sure. Whatever…"

Getting up from where she was sitting, Ruby walked out the door of the clock tower with Kaira. The two of them walked along the theatre district sidewalk, Kaira looking around in fascination at the titanic city.

"You seem preoccupied with the scenery. I take it you've never been to Lindblum before." Ruby's eyes followed Kaira's as she scanned the city, staring at the marketers and the people who still roamed the streets buying from them. Even at this time of night, the streets still flowed with people, not nearly as many as there were during the day, but still more than Kaira was used to.

"No. I haven't." She paused to glance once more at her surroundings, her eyes stopping upon the huge castle standing tall in the distance. "I've been to so many different places…but none of them compare to this. Your city is huge! Are those air ships?" She asked as she stared up into the night sky.

"yup! I guess you're not familiar with those either, since Lindblum is one of the only cities that has them."

"Well, I've seen them before; but not up close."

"Oh, you'll like riding on them. They're so much fun!"

"I prefer...other ways of flying."

"Oh. You mean those wings of yours. Yeah, Blank told us about those wings."

"Blank?" Kaira paused to think. "He's . . . the one with the red hair right?"

Ruby nodded, smiling. "Don't worry. You'll get to know who everyone is eventually."

"Question." Kaira stated.

"Yes?"

"What's the deal with the belt around his head?"

"Oh, you mean Blank?" Ruby started laughing.

Kaira stared at her and smiled. "What?" she asked.

"It was just a funny question, that's all," Ruby replied, trying to hold back her laugh.

"Well, I think it's an ask worthy question. I mean, it's not everyday that you see someone walking around with a blindfold on,"

"That's true," Ruby looked up at the stars filling the otherwise empty sky. Then she turned her head back to Kaira. "He's always worn that, except at night. Sleeping with it on would probably be very uncomfortable. But he's been wearing it since before I even met him and the rest of Tantalus."

"Yeah, but why?" Kaira persisted.

"Well, he has . . . per say unusual eyes. I don't really know much about them myself; I've always felt rude asking him about it, so I just don't ask. But I have talked to Marcus about it. Back when I first met them, I found it just as strange as you do, so one day I asked Marcus about Blank's blindfold, and he told me about how they can, in a way, possess him."

"Possess him?"

"Well, not really _possess _him, but that's the only way I know how to put it. Sometimes Blank can open his eyes and not have any trouble at all, however other times he opens them and goes rampant. At least that's what Marcus said. He told me it happened once when Blank was six, back when he first joined them. Obviously, since he was only six, he couldn't really hurt anyone; but it was still strange that it would happen at all to someone. But he's blind anyway, so it doesn't matter that he can't open his eyes. And he doesn't like people to see them, so as long as he's got his blindfold on or he keeps his eyes closed, he's fine with it."

"Why doesn't he like people to see his eyes? What do they look like? Have you ever seen them?"

"You sure are curious about Blank, aren't you?" Ruby implied.

"Err …uh … w-well you're the one who brought him up in this conversation!"

Ruby just stood there smiling suggestively at Kaira.

". . . oh, just answer my question!"

Snickering slightly, Ruby then continued with her story. "He doesn't like people to see his eyes because they're…not normal looking. People wouldn't accept him if they saw his eyes, they would think he looks like some kind of…demon or something. In fact, people who have caught glimpses of his eyes _have_ called him a demon before. He wont admit it, but he's afraid of rejection. Not to mention, ever since the time Marcus told me about, Blank has been afraid that if he opens his eyes, he might end up killing someone."

All fell silent for a minute or two, as Kaira and Ruby both thought about the conversation, and about Blank's "demonic" eyes. The two continued walking on, not even realizing they had gone in a circle and were now almost back to the Clock Tower.

The two moons had yet to rise and still the sky was lit with the lights of the city and the lights of airships. Ruby watched the marketers getting ready to close up for the night as Kaira stared up into the starry sky, fascinated by it's beauty.

"I thought you said you didn't know much," Kaira broke the silence, looking over at Ruby, smiling.

Ruby smiled back. "I guess I knew more about Blank than I thought I did."

The two girls arrived back at the "house" to find that everyone else had already gone to sleep.

"Well, it _is _late," said Ruby. "We should probably go to sleep to." Ruby decided she had completely changed her mind about Kaira. Kaira wasn't the stuck up snot that Ruby thought she was. In fact, Ruby actually liked having her around to talk to. Not that she didn't have other people to talk to (I mean she lives with so many people). She found it real easy to talk with Marcus about any of her problems. But Ruby found it nice to have a girl around to do things with for once.

"Yea, you're right," Kaira looked down at the floor thinking about what it would be like to go back to her previous home after all these years. She was apprehensive about the whole idea.

"Somethin' wrong darlin'? You look worried."

"No," Kaira lied. "I'm just tired that's all."

"Yeah, me too. Well, let's get some shut eye."

Ruby turned off the light and the two of them hopped into there beds

"Good night Kaira," Ruby quietly called to Kaira, laying in the bed to the left of Ruby's bed.

". . . good night . . . "

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Sorry I took so long getting this chapter to ya. Once again I got side tracked with other things (can I help it if I'm obsessed with ?) lol. Please leave a review to let me know what you thought. If you've got any suggestions on how to make it better or what you think I should change, please tell me in your review. THANK YOU!


	6. Off to Meet the Queen

I'm so glad that people actually like my fan fiction! I love getting ur reviews! They're such an encouragement. Thanx u guys!

Gem-- Thank you! (heh, sorry about the long waits) I'm just slow like that. But, despite me making you wait so long, I must be doing something right. Since you continue to review. Lol. I'm glad you like my fan fiction enough to put up with my procrastination habit. Thanx again!

Phoenix Raine-- I'm glad you find my fan fiction to be a unique one. Thank You!

Ameki-Elisa-- Oh YAY! A new reviewer. I'm glad you like my story! Thank you!

Aisler-- . . . AISLER! UR ALIVE! YAAAAAAYYYY! I didn't know where you went, but I'm glad you're back. Thanx for the always supportive review.

CizelleLoreda-- wow, how did I miss your review before! I'm sorry I never replied. Once again, I prove myself to be a forgetful idiot. (eh heh heh) Anyway, thank you for your review which I got a long time ago and never replied to; and of course you can add me to your lists. I'd love you to! Thank you for the review! And again I apologize.

Here's the next chap!

****

Chapter six  
**Off to Meet the Queen **

"Up and at 'em everybody!" Hurry up and get ready to go! We gotta leave for Alexandria soon!" Zidane yelled to wake everyone else up. He had convinced them all the night before to stop in on Garnet at Alexandria Castle to see if she could be of assistance to them on their trip. Of course, he was just using this as an excuse to be with Garnet, but Baku decided to give him what he wanted. Now Zidane was especially eager to get going.

"Zidane, it's six A.M.!" Marcus complained. "Shut the hell up and let us sleep."

"Come on you lazy asses!" Baku strutted into the room. "Marcus, if only you and Cinna had the enthusiasm that Zidane has. Then this would go a lot more smoothly. Now get your butts out of bed, and get ready to leave."

"Well, we'd be enthusiastic too if we had a hot chic waiting for us in Alexandria," Marcus joked.

Zidane blushed while glaring at Marcus. " . . . that's no way to talk about the queen of Alexandria! Hmph, 'hot chick'. How rude!"

"You can't hide it Zidane," Cinna joined in. "We all know you can't wait to lay your eyes on Dagger again."

"Th-that's not true! I just . . . I mean, …I was. . . uhh . . . heh," Zidane smiled weakly at Marcus and Cinna. The two of them just smirked back in victory.

"Zidane, go wait in the Prima Vista with Blank, Ruby, and the new chic," Baku ordered. "Nero's, go with Zidane. And Marcus, Cinna…you two better be ready by the time I come back!"

"Y-yes Boss," the two said in unison. They all did as Baku said. Zidane and the Nero brothers made their way to the Prima Vista where Blank, Ruby, and Kaira were preparing the ship for take-off. Baku continued to pack things from around the house to take with them. Things such as food and other previsions they may need. And Marcus and Cinna hurried to get ready to leave, out of fear of a beating from their boss.

(A/N ok nothing interesting happens here. Marcus and Cinna get ready to go in time, they all head to the airship…enough said)

"Okay, boys…and Ruby and Kaira," Baku announced to everyone as he stepped onto the Prima Vista which was docked at the harbor (I know it's an _air_ship, but I'm gonna assume it can flout. I mean, heck, some planes and helicopters can, right?) "Let's get our butts movin'. Everybody ready for take-off?"

"Wait…WAIT!" a girl yelled in the distance as she ran towards the airship. As she got closer she yelled, "You didn't think you could leave without me, did you Zidane?"

" . . . Eiko?" Zidane questioned. (sorry if this is a spoiler, but Eiko lives in Lindblum now) "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I wouldn't miss the chance to go on another adventure with you," she innocently replied as they stood there on the dock.

"Umm . . . yeah great," Zidane lied as he gave her a fake smile.

" . . . who's the pip-squeak?" Kaira asked as she looked down at Eiko with an annoyed expression.

Eiko glared angrily. "How dare you! I am not a pip-squeak!"

"No, I'm pretty sure you are." Kaira bent down to Eiko's level and snickered. "I mean, really, you're like less than four feet tall. "

Eiko narrowed her eyes even more, her face started turning red with rage (kinda humorous looking if you ask me). She then swung her hand up at Kaira, smacking her in the breast (I think the girls know this better than the guys, but that REALLY hurts)

"OWW!" Kaira screamed. "Why you little…"

"ANYWAY!" Baku interrupted the girls' cat fight. "We still have to get going. Let's not forget our objective here."

"Hey, what is the objective anyway." Eiko asked. "Where were you guys off to?"

"Alexandria," answered Zidane. "Now, Boss is right, lets go."

Cinna then started up the ship and the others were about to head inside and help, when they saw a huge shadow fly by over head.

"Oh great," Zidane moaned. "Another distraction." _I'll never get to see Dagger at this rate, _he thought to himself.

Kaira gasped. " . . . oh crap!" she said aloud.

"Is that a dragon?" Ruby asked. " . . . in Lindblum?"

Kaira moaned. "I'm in trouble."

The rusty red dragon swooped down from the sky, landing gently on the shore of the harbor. He was large compared to the size of a normal dragon. He drew in his titanic wings and, to the amazement of everyone but Kaira, shrunk to the size and shape of a human.

"Dragons can transform into humans?" Blank asked in shock.

"Yup" the dragon answered. (except he wasn't a dragon anymore. He now took the  
form of a man with shoulder length brown hair and a slight beard growing across his face. He looked about the age of a thirty year old man) The man walked onto the airship, but stopped in front of Kaira. The girl just lowered her wolf ears and tried to look innocent. "You, my little wolf pup, are in big trouble."

" . . . yea, I figured as much," she replied."

" I was waiting all night for you, and you never showed up." The man raised his voice. "Damn you, kaira! When are you gonna learn to do what you're told!"

"Draco, you don't understand. Last night, I saw . . . I saw Garron! "

Draco widened his eyes in disbelief. "You couldn't have. How do you know it was him?"

"Because he told me he was," she answered. "And he told me about what he had done to the Gerudo."

" . . . damn"

"we were just on our way to find out more about why he's reappeared. …heh…but…I…kind of forgot about you…" Kaira smiled weakly.

Kilala walked up to Draco and meowed sweetly in recognition of him.

"I'm sure you didn't forget me, Kilala. But that owner of yours is too stubborn to listen to you isn't she?" Draco picked up the cat and stroked her pale fur.

"Hey, I DO listen to Kilala . . . I just don't listen to you . . . "

Draco smiled, slowly forgetting about his anger. "So, who are all of you?" Draco gestured to everyone else around him. "What do all of you have to do with Garron?"

"We'll explain everything to you on the way to Alexandria," answered Zidane.

"Why are you going to Alexandria?" Draco asked another question.

"I repeat," Zidane answered again. "We'll explain EVERYTHING on the way!"

Draco looked down at Kaira. "I think we can trust them," she answered his unspoken concerns.

The dragon nodded. "I don't trust them," he replied., being the untrusting creature that dragons are. "But I do trust your judgment."

They all finally stepped into the airship and flew off in the morning sun toward the country of Alexandria.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Okay, I think that's the longest I've ever taken to put up another chapter. I got lazy again, and not to mention my computer stopped working for a while. …No, really it did! …ok, you're right, that's just another excuse, but I cant help it. You have to be patient when working with procrastinators like myself. (heh) Oh and about Draco. Yeah, I didn't cover much about him, but ill explain his story in the next chapter. Which will probably be in about six months. That is if I keep on going at this rate. …but ill try to go faster. Lol. And,don't worry, Blank is still the main character of this story. I only say that because this chapter really had nothing to do with him.But i will get backto Blank soon. I promise!


	7. A Short Interlude

Back again with another chapter. And thanks everyone for your reviews.

Aisler-- Yay! I'm funny! Thanx. And wow, six months? That's a long time! You might wanna think about updating that. Then again, I've been waiting a year now for this one story I'm reading to be updated. So there are people out there who take even longer than you. Lol. Oh, and about the whole Blank knowing how the dragon transformed…..I have to admit that I hadn't thought of that. (eh…heh heh) Good observation on your part. Umm, well I had to think about it, and then I remembered back in chapter 3 when I explain about Blank's eyes, I said that he can make out objects and their form, but he cant really tell much detail. So, he could tell that Draco had transformed, but he couldn't really tell much other than that. For all he knew the dragon could have transformed into a hairy ape-like beast that stood on two legs; he was just guessing that it was a human form. …That was a really good question. I don't think I would have noticed that. Congratulations on making me think really hard. Lol!

Ameki-Elisa-- YAY! They like me! They really like me! Heh, sorry. I'm glad you like my fan fiction so much. Thank you so much for your reviews. And don't worry. You're not stupid. If anything, you just have a lot in common with me…not seeing the obvious…yea that sounds like me. Lol. One time I was at a festival, and I asked the lady at the concession stand how much the drinks were. Well, the lady pointed at a sign next to me with the prices on it. Of course, right there in front of my face. Where else would it be? Lol

Gem-- lol I'm glad no one minded waiting for the next chapter, but at least I got this one up fast. Thanx for being so understanding. And about Zidane. Lol. Yea, I always have pictured him to be the obsessive type. Thanks again!

Disclaimer--I hate disclaimers. I mean, yeaI don't own the game! (wellI own the game, but i don't **own** the game) Thanks for reminding me. For reminding me that I'm not the owner of Final Fantasy IX or any of its characters. I'm trying to forget that awful truth...WHY MUST YOU TORTURE ME!

****

Chapter seven  
A Short Interlude 

"So, that's why we're on our way to your island," Zidane finished telling Draco, their new dragon companion about how Garron had showed up in both Treno and Lindblum, and how they were going to Gerudo Island to find out more about him and what he's after.

"I see," The man replied with a solemn look on is face. "And you don't remember anything about your past?" Draco asked Blank. "You have no idea why he might want to kill you?"

Blank shook is head slowly. "No."

Ruby and Kaira were listening in on the conversation from across the room. All of them were sitting in a fairly large room of the Prima Vista. The room was set up some what like a restaurant with tables and chairs scattered though out. It was used mostly as a concession stand during their performances.

"So what exactly is this guys connection to you?" Ruby asked Kaira.

"Oh, you mean Draco? He lived with the Gerudos'. They have many dragons, but I think Draco was the favorite. He's lived their for a long time. When Kilala and I left, Draco decided to come with us. He wanted to make sure we were safe. I guess he's kinda like an older brother to me."

"Why did you leave?" Ruby asked.

Kaira paused, lowering her head till she was staring at the floor.

"It's okay," Ruby continued. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, I'm fine. The reason I left was - "

"Okay all of you bastards out there." Baku interrupted over the intercom. "We're almost at Alexandria Castle., so everyone get ready to land."

" . . . Well that was polite," Kaira sarcastically made fun of Baku.

"Yeah, Baku is one bucking bronco," Replied Ruby.

"I . . . don't know what that means . . . "

"She just means that he's not exactly the most formal person you'll meet," Blank answered as he and Zidane walked over to the girls in hopes of annoying Ruby and Kaira (well Zidane wanted to annoy Kaira . . . Blank had other intentions) (A/N . . . hee hee)

(another A/N. by the way, I never explained what Blank looks like. He doesn't look like he does in the game. In this fan fic, Blank obviously still has the red hair and the blind fold, his two trade marks ,but his hair is down almost to the top of his shoulders and his bangs go in front of his eyes a little (very cute hair style if you ask me). And as for his clothes; he has black denim pants and a dark red sleeveless shirt. And around his waste, he has two or three belts (kinda like Squall from FF8 does) and a metal chain. Then he's also got three belt like thingies on his arm (final fantasy seems to obsess over putting belts in odd places, I'm just trying to follow the trend). So anyway, that's what Blank looks like in this fic, but feel free to picture him any way you want still (except naked…I prefer you not picture him like that...eh heh...) Ok, that was WAY too long of a description, so let's get back to the story if I can remember where I left off)

"Ugh, great, what do you two want?" Ruby asked with an annoyed tone in her voice.

"That's was easier than we thought it would be," Blank said to Zidane. "She's already annoyed."

Kaira snickered under her breath.

"Excuse these two. They are such a nuisance sometimes," Ruby told Kaira.

"Eh, I've seen worse," Kaira said as she looked at Eiko, who was sitting next to her.

"What's that suppose to mean!" Eiko glared.

Kaira shrugged at her and smiled "Nothing…"

"I think you enjoy torturing Eiko as much as we enjoy torturing Ruby," Blank said to Kaira, smiling at their antics.

"Me? Enjoy making fun of people? . . . Of course not!" she replied innocently.

Eiko just kept glaring and then stuck her tongue out at her, so Kaira stuck her tongue out back at Eiko.

"Stop fooling around and do as the annoying donkey-eared man said," Draco interrupted their conversation (that is if that counts as a conversation). He then walked out of the room, Ruby and Eiko following behind.

"Well, as much as I liked to stay and talk about our tales of annoyance, I'm gonna go check out the view," Kaira said to Zidane and Blank as she walked out of the room as well.

"Well, now look what you did," Zidane said to Blank. "You lost your chance to flirt with her."

"What! What makes you think I wanted to flirt to begin with?" Blank argued. "I'm not you, Zidane."

Zidane just glared at him (I have too much glaring in this story. Heh, oh well) "Whatever," he replied, not wanting to start an argument (wow, Zidane not wanting to argue? Imagine that!). He just walked out as everyone else already had, and went to get his stuff packed up for Alexandria. Blank followed shortly behind and did the same.

Meanwhile, Kaira stood on the side of the ship, watching as the country of Alexandria got bigger and the castle came into view.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Draco said suddenly from behind her.

She whipped around quickly. "Draco. You scared me. I didn't know anyone was there."

"Sorry."

She turned back to stare once again at the huge building drawing ever closer to her. "It's been so long since I've been here."

"Yeah, last time we were here was when we were passing through on our way south to Treno, hoping to raid the auction house."

"The waterfall is beautiful! . . . I'm gonna go check it out."

"Kaira, no! Don't fly out there!" Draco insisted

"Why not? I'll be fine." Kaira spread out her black, angelic wings and jumped off the side of the airship.

"Kaira!" Draco yelled.

"What's wrong?" Blank asked, he and Marcus running over after hearing Draco yell.

"Ugh, that damned girl never listens," he replied. Marcus and Blank followed his gaze out at Kaira who flew farther away from the ship towards the huge city.

"She can fly?" Marcus asked in astonishment.

"Dude, I can't even see and yet even **_I _**knew she could fly," Blank poked fun at Marcus.

". . . well . . . Oh shut up."

"Marcus, you're an idiot," The two of them always joked around with each other, making fun of one another but not really meaning anything they said. "Anyway," Blank continued, "Why did she jump off?"

"She wanted a better view of Alexandria," Draco answered.

"Are we that close already?" he asked, looking in the direction where the ship was headed as he pictured an imaginary Alexandria.

"Yup, almost there," Marcus replied. "Hey Draco, if you don't want Kaira out there, why don't you just fly out and get her?"

Draco looked at the ogre-like man and smiled. "Because only she's stupid enough to needlessly jump off of an airship." With that, he walked away as the Prima Vista lowered itself above the city, making its way to the harbor near to the castle.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ha! Less than a week and I already got another chapter up! YAY FOR ME! Okay, that one was more of a chapter to just fill in space as they went to Alexandria, but I'll make sure the next chapter has more useful information in it. But despite its pointlessness, I hope you still liked the chapter! Please review!

P.S. ...you pictured Blank naked, didn't you...? --glare-- But I told you not to! . . . PERVERTS!  
. . . heh just kidding! lol


	8. Clouded Memories

. . . I'm running out of things to say at the beginning of chapters. …Heh, oh well. I'm sure you don't wanna hear me talk anyway, so I'll just get straight to reviews.

Ameki Elisa-- Hmm, good point. Perhaps I _should_ take that part out. I don't wanna piss anyone off. By the way, you're a Marcus fan, huh? That's cool! You don't see many of those. Yeah, I like Marcus too (I basically just like Tantalus in general). But, of course, Blank is my favorite --sighs dreamily-- Well, glad you liked the changes I made. I was worried people wouldn't like it.

Gem-- Hee hee, thanks!

Aisler-- Lol. That's all I have to say about your review is "lol". Heh sorry if I'm making fun of Eiko too much (I just find that fun to do) And as for the whole not noticing things subject…wow and I thought I was bad. That's funny.

**  
Chapter Eight  
Clouded Memories **

Blank stood on the bow of the airship as it flew over Alexandria. _Son…? _he thought to himself. _Why did he call me his son? He couldn't possibly be my father. But . . . that voice. It's so familiar. I know I've heard it before. …Could I really be his . . .? _Blank's thoughts trailed off as he tried to remember where he had heard Garron's voice. _Those dreams. _He silently said. _His voice is from those nightmares. _

(Flashback)  
__

The six year old Blank tossed and turned on his bed as he moaned quietly, but still loud enough to disturb his "brothers" sleeping in the same room. The Clock Tower was a small building with only three rooms. The main room was where their living room/ kitchen was (A/N which would later be Ruby's room as well, but this was before she joined Tantalus). To the left of that room was a hallway leading to a second room which had four beds for Cinna, Marcus, Zidane, and Blank. And then the third room, down the hall a bit more, was where Baku and the Nero bros slept.

_Two blurry figures stood in front of Blank. One was kneeling on the ground, keeled over in pain; while the other stood next to the kneeling figure. Blank stood behind a stone building as he watched the two figures. "I told you to kill the boy and you deliberately disobeyed me!" The upright figure said to the kneeling one. Blank could tell it was a masculine voice. "I cannot kill my own son!" The kneeling figure boldly replied, this one being feminine. "Then you shall die as well," the man said. He then held up his sword and struck it through the woman's stomach. The woman screamed in pain and struggle to cry out the words "Run! Run away from here! Save yourself!" With that, the man pulled his blade back out and hacked off the woman's head. _

_  
Blank knew her message was for him. He tried to run, but the moment he did he felt a stinging in his eyes. He stopped and winced a little. The pain wasn't too bad at first, but it grew until he could hardly open his eyes. He held up his left hand to wipe away what he thought were tears, but pulling his hand away from his face, he discovered it to be blood. He felt the streaks running down his face as his eyes bled, blurring his vision. He could hear the man's footsteps behind him, as the man searched for the boy he wanted dead. With no other choice, Blank ran. He didn't care that he couldn't see anything; he just ran, hoping he wouldn't run into anything. And hoping that the man wouldn't find him. After running for what seemed like hours, Blank stopped. He could hear the sound of waves and feel sand under his bare feet. He gasped for air, then suddenly collapsed to the ground, from exhaustion and from the severe pain, emitting from his eyes._

_  
"You cant run away forever," a voice called to Blank in his sleep. "You will die." _

_  
"Who…who are you!" He asked the voice._

_  
"I'll make sure of it," the voice continued._

_  
"Answer me!" the boy cried, a child-like fear in his voice._

_  
"I will find you…soon!" _

_  
The six year old woke up in a cold sweat, screaming as though he were about to die. He sat upright on his bed, gasping for breath_

"Blank?" Marcus said out of the darkness of the room. He had still been awake listening to Blank's moans and indistinct babbling. "Blank, what's wrong!" he whispered in a panic but still quietly as to not wake anyone else up. Apparently it hadn't occurred to him that Blank's cry had already done just that. Blank was too out of breath and frightened to answer him. It had only been a few months since Blank had joined Tantalus and Marcus still only thought of him as an annoying younger brother. But that was why he had developed a protectiveness of Blank. Blank was his younger brother; and for some reason Marcus, although he still didn't like Blank, felt closer to him than anyone else in the group.

Marcus, got up, walked over to Blank's bedside, and sat down beside him. "Nightmares again?" Marcus asked.

Blank continued breathing heavily, but was able to answer with a simple exasperated "yeah".

"Same ones?" he asked.

Blank nodded.

Zidane, eight years old at the time, got up and sat on the end of Blank's bed. "It was just a dream, Blank. Why are you so freaked out by it?" he asked bluntly (I kinda picture Zidane as a blunt guy who never thinks before he speaks).

"You would be too if you knew what they were," Marcus defended Blank.

"Well, how can I know when he wont tell me!" Zidane argued.

"They're just so realistic…" Blank said, finally able to speak. "As if it actually happened…"

(end flashback)

"…Maybe it did," Blank said aloud as he felt the airship landing. He looked up to see the form of a castle in front of him. Or at least, what he could make out of it. A tall building with a giant thing sticking out of the top (by that I mean the glass-like sword on the top of Alexandria Castle). That was about all he could tell of it.

"Come on, Blank. What're ya just standin' around for?" Baku said from behind him. "Let's get goin'!" By now, it was about 9:30 at night. They had been flying since early that morning, making their way all the way from the western side of the continent. "I've been piloting this thing all damn day. I gotta get in that castle, so I can finally eat somethin'!" Blank smiled slightly and walked with him down to the dock of the harbor. Zidane, Cinna, Marcus, Kaira, Ruby, Eiko, and Draco were already there; Baku had asked the Nero brothers to stay and take care of the airship.

Just as Blank and Baku walked down the dock, Garnet ran out of one of the doors of castle. She had seen the Prima Vista approaching and quickly got up to greet them.

"Everyone! I didn't know you were coming! I haven't seen you all in so long!" she said as she excitedly ran over and stopped beside them.

"Hey Dagger, I -" Zidane started, but was cut off by Garnet.

"Baku, Marcus, Blank, Cinna, Ruby. It's so nice to see you again!" the queen exclaimed.

"Umm, Dagger what about - " Zidane was interrupted again.

"Dagger!" Eiko yelled.

"Oh, Eiko!" Garnet ran up to the seven year old girl and knelt down, giving her a tight hug. "I didn't know you were here too." She got up and looked over at Kaira and Draco. "And who are you two?"

" . . . What about me . . . ?" Zidane whispered to himself. Marcus and Cinna, who were standing next to him, snickered quietly. Zidane just looked at them with a look that said "_Shut up or else!"_

Kaira and Draco introduced themselves to Garnet, then she turned around to Zidane and laughed. "And don't think I've forgotten about you."

Zidane just smiled, not remembering anything he wanted to say to her. She walked over to him and gave him a hug. _Not exactly what I wanted, _he thought to himself_, but better than nothing. _

"So what did you come for?" Garnet asked them.

"We were wondering if you could help us with something," Baku answered.

The group went inside the castle to eat and discuss the issue. Steiner and Beatrix joined them, Steiner not being too happy about them suddenly appearing in Alexandria. Blank and the others had explained the situation, and Baku whispered to Dagger that the real reason they were there was so Zidane would shut up about missing her. She just laughed at the comment, flattered and yet not surprised that he missed her.

"Hmm, Garron… I don't believe I've heard that name before." The queen (A/N she's seventeen by the way, Zidane is nineteen. I know in the game he was only sixteen but I'm gonna say he was eighteen) looked to Steiner and Beatrix as if asking them if they had heard the name before. They both shook their heads.

"What about Dr. Tot?" Beatrix suggested. "He may know something about this man or about the island that Kaira is from."

"Good idea! Dr. Tot has been here for the past couple of weeks," Garnet explained. "He's been studying various things in his library, but mostly I think he just wanted to visit us. I think he gets lonely in Treno."

"Well, then lets go talk to him!" Eiko excitedly exclaimed.

"Why are you so eager all of a sudden?" Zidane asked her.

"I'm just looking forward to going on another adventure with everyone." Eiko beamed.

"Yeah, but this one has nothing to do with you. I mean, you shouldn't even be here."

"Wh- what! But . . . it has nothing to do with you either, so why are YOU here!" the girl retorted.

"Zidane!" Dagger interrupted. "That was so rude of you!"

"B- but she said the same thing back to me…" he tried to look innocent.

"I cant believe your insensitivity sometimes." Dagger looked away sharply and stood to go the library.

_Why is it that I'm always fighting a losing battle…? _Zidane silently asked himself. The others followed Dagger to the library, while Steiner and Beatrix returned to their duties; and Eiko wandered off to explore the castle.

"Now lets see." they heard from inside the library. It was a large room with books stored on every wall from floor to ceiling. There were a few tables in the room with four chairs at each one for reading and studying. The lighting in the room was dim, but still light enough to read by. "Where is it? I know it's here somewhere."

"What are you looking for Dr.?" Dagger asked from behind him.

Tot jumped, startled at hearing somebody behind him. "Oh, I'm sorry, Garnet. I didn't hear you coming. And what's this? Zidane and all of his friends are here as well. What a surprise to see you all again!"

"…but what were you looking for?" Zidane re-asked Dagger's question.

"Oh, just an old book about the stars and the constellations of the Eidolons. Nothing too important. Did you need something?"

"Yes." Dagger started. "We wanted to ask you if you knew anything about a man named Garron." Blank told Tot of what had been going on lately, and Kaira added what she already knew.

"Hmm…I'm sorry to say that I've never heard of him. However, I have heard of the Gerudo…a group of mostly female bandits who live on an island off the east coast of the Forgotten Continent. "

" . . . That's right," Kaira said, shocked that he knew where the island was located.

Tot paused to think about all that had been told to him. He looked over at Blank and noticed a black mark on his left arm. "Draco, you're a dragon, correct?" Tot continued.

"Yes, I am," he answered.

"Is it true that the Gerudo train and use dragons to aid them in their thieving?"

"I feel likewe're on trial." Kaira said bluntly. "What are you getting at?"

"Kaira, behave," Draco scolded her. The girl just glared at her companion.

"Yes, they do use dragons," Draco answered.

"But why are you so curious about the Gerudo?" Kaira asked Tot.

"Dragons are very untrusting creatures. …The Gerudo must have strong ties with the dragon race in order for the dragons to live peacefully with them." Tot seemed to be talking to himself; everyone else just sitting, listening, wondering where he was going with this. "Blank, I'm curious to know about that tattoo on your arm. Where did you get it?"

Blank lifted his right hand and rested it over a tattoo of a black dragon just below his left shoulder. "This? I don't know. It's always been there. I don't remember ever having it put on."

"Blank had that when we met him, back when he was only six," Marcus added.

"I see. How curious." Tot stared at Blank's arm intently, studying the mark as though he expected it to move.

Blank then turned his body in a way that blocked the doctor's view of his arm. "Stop staring at me."

"Oh! I'm sorry, my boy. Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." _That mark… _Tot thought silently. _Could it be . . . ? No, it couldn't be. …But what if it is? "_Hmm…"

"…what?" Blank was beginning to feel impatient with the doctor's stalling. "Do you know anything, or don't you. Cause if you don't then there's no point in us being here."

"Blank don't be rude," Ruby leered at him.

"No, I agree with him!" Kaira added. She stood up and slammed her palm down on the wooden table. "I'm tired of sitting here listening to all of your stupid questions. If you know something, tell us. If you don't know anything, then let us leave!"

"Kaira…" Draco was getting impatient now as well. However, it wasn't at Tot, it was at Kaira as it usually was. Her impatience with the doctor was making him impatient with her.

"…Okay. …Too much tension in this room," Zidane said as he fidgeted in his seat.

Dagger stared down at her hands and tried to avoid eye-contact with anyone. "Uhm…so do you think you can help us…?" Dagger asked, still staring down at her lap.

Tot hesitated to talk, not wanting to make anyone else mad or in a hurry. "Blank, you said that this Garron fellow called you his son, am I right?"

"Yes, but he probably didn't mean it that way," Blank was still in denial aboutt he whole thing. Admitting that Garron may be his biological father would betoo much to bear.

"Do you know if this Garron fellow had any similar markings on him as to the one onyourarm?"

Everyone looked around at each other, all of them shook their head.

"Well then, I don't think I can be of much more help to you directly. However, I can tell you where you might be able to find some more information. The people of Daguerreo (excuse me if I didn't spell that right) are very loyal to there water dragon god, Leviathan. They have studied a lot about dragons and their history. I suggest you go there."

"But why?" Blank asked confusedly. "Just because I have a tattoo of a dragon doesn't mean it actually has anything to do with dragons. It's just a tattoo."

"That mark may have more significance than you think it does."

They talked for a while longer about various things, most of there conversation having nothing to do with what they had originally come here for. The group spent the night in Alexandria, and the next morning would leave for the Forgotten Continent.

(A/N I find it funny that no one ever noticed that Eiko was missing. I didn't do that on purpose, I just kind of forgot about her. Heh, sorry Aisler...)

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One more chapter to the story. Yay! I just love posting new chapters! Yeah, I know, that sounded really gay….but I do. I like knowing what people will think of it. --smiles-- I love my reviewers. Much thanks to you all!


	9. Who Likes Who?

Okay, chapter nine. I hope this fan fiction comes together okay, cause I'm not exactly thinking everything out. I'm just kind of writing it as I think of it. I mean, I know how the whole story is gonna go (heck, I even know how the sequel is gonna go), but I don't have like an out-line or anything. Oh well. Anyway, please read and review. And feel free to make any suggestions about what I could maybe make better about my writing…but be gentle, no harshness.

Inner voice- Because if you're too harsh, we may have to seek you out and kill you.

. . . No. We do not kill people.

Inner voice- Why not?

Well . . . because it's too much work.

Inner voice- Then we'll hire other people to kill them for us.

You're an idiot.

Inner voice- You cant call me an idiot! I'm you.

…well…I'm an idiot too. Oh shut up! --sigh-- ANYWAY! Let's get to reviews

Inner voice- And remember what I said…--glare--

Would you be quiet! You're gonna scare everyone away!

Gem-- Heh. Yea sorry 'bout that. I got distracted, and kinda shoved my fanfic to the side. It's that whole procrastination thing again. …darn that habit! Lol. But I made sure to get this chapter up quickly for you. Hope you enjoy it!

Aisler-- lol sorry 'bout that. I knew the whole age thing would probably confuse someone. --sigh-- I'm not good at wording things. See what I was trying to say is in the game Zidane was 16 and my story takes place a year after the game, which would make him 17. But I don't want him to be the same age as I made Blank (I want Zidane to be older) So instead of keeping Zidane the age he was in the game, I'm making him two years older. Which would mean he was 18 when the FFIX took place, and (since this is a year later) he would be 19 now. Oh wow…that IS confusing…I hope it made sense that time, although it still sounds confusing to me.

Disclaimer-- Bite me!

**Chapter Nine  
Who Likes Who?  
**The group had spent the night in Alexandria, resting up for another day-long flight to Daguerreo. Dagger was up early that morning as she was every morning. She was on her way to the library; Dr. Tot had told her to go there, saying someone was waiting for her there. When she opened the door the first thing she noticed were the books lying cluttered on the floor.

_Dr. Tot never leaves the library like this, _she thought to herself. Then she noticed a young girl sitting at one of the tables, her head resting on the tabletop as she slept soundly. Dagger smiled. _Eiko. I wondered where she had gone off to. She must have been wandering the castle and decided to come in here and read. I wonder how late she was up till. _Dagger decided to let the girl sleep a while longer. After all, it was only 6:30 A.M. She quietly crept back out of the room; turning around to leave and-

"OH!" Dagger yelped. Putting her hand over her heart and breathing heavily. "You scared me. I wasn't expecting any of you to be up at this hour." She looked up at the brown haired dragon-in-disguise, whom she had just run into.

"No, I'm sorry. It was my fault," Draco replied. "I wasn't watching where I was going. I was just on my way to the kitchen for some breakfast."

"I was as well. I'll go with you."

The two then walked off toward the kitchen. Steiner had been watching from behind the corner. _Who does that guy think he is! Is he flirting with the Queen! _Steiner started fuming as thought about it. _I'll show him! No one gets to the princess…er uh I mean…queen without going through ME first. _Steiner stormed off to the kitchen to keep an eye on the "untrustworthy" dragon.

(In the dining room)

"So what would you like to eat this morning?" Dagger asked Draco politely.

Oh, whatever you happen to have."

"Draco, not trying to brag but, I'm the queen of Alexandria. …We have everything you could think of."

"What do you think you're doing wandering around the castle!" someone suddenly shouted from outside the dining room.

"I wasn't 'wandering', I was walking to where I wanted to go. How else am I suppose to get around?" Blank argued as he walked into the dining room, Steiner waddling in not far behind him.

"Steiner, are you giving our guests a hard time again?" Beatrix joked with him. She had been standing next to Draco and Dagger.

"No…I just-"

Beatrix sighed. "Steiner, shut up and help me instruct the cooks in the kitchen."

"I cant!" Steiner quickly said. _I cant leave that dragon beast in here with the queen. _he though silently.

"Why not?" She asked.

I uh - I have to…um"

"Stop making excuses!" The General glared at the Captain angrily.

"Were you or were you not flirting with the princess…uh queen!" Steiner suddenly snapped at Draco.

"What!" Draco stared at Steiner in shock, but quickly regained his composure. "I have no interest in human women…or dragon women for that matter." he said calmly.

" . . . AHA! So you're gay!"

Draco fell out of his chair in shock. "WHAT!" He hurriedly got back on his feet and dusted himself off. He then looked back at Steiner. "I have no interest in men either!"

"Steiner you're being irrational." Dagger butted in. Blank, who was now sitting across from her at the large, rectangular table, lowered his head slightly to try to cover up his need to burst out laughing. Now go and help Beatrix," Dagger ordered. "And no more harassing ANY of our guests!"

Steiner lowered his head in shame. "Yes, your highness…" Beatrix then grabbed Steiner by the ear and dragged him off to the kitchen.

Once they had left, Draco sighed heavily and sat back down at the fancy wooden table. "What the hell was _that_ all about?" He then looked up at Blank and Dagger to find that they were covering their mouths, trying to hide their laughter. The man glared at his two younger companions and sighed again. With that, the two of them couldn't stand it any longer and they burst out in laughter.

"What's all the laughing in here about?" Marcus said as he walked into the room, Baku standing next to him.

"Nothing…it was nothing…" Draco answered.

Marcus just blinked in confusion.

"Blank, I'm surprised you're up at this hour," Baku walked up to the table and sat down next to Blank, Marcus sat Blank's other side. "You do know that it's not even seven yet right?" Baku added.

"Yeah." answered Blank.

"I'm didn't think you knew what seven A.M. was." Baku laughed loudly at his own corny joke. "His idea of getting up early is more like eleven A.M." Baku told the others.

"Typical teenager," Draco replied.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Blank asked, slightly insulted by his comment, but still keeping a non-confrontational tone in his voice.

"I mean exactly what I said you're a typical teenager…lazy."

"You don't know me," Blank said after a long pause, still keeping the same '_I'm not gonna get upset'_ tone in his voice.

"Blank isn't lazy," Marcus entered the conversation. "In fact, he probably works harder than most of us other guys in Tantalus do."

"That doesn't surprise me." the dragon continued. "You all look lazy."

"You don't make friends easily, do you?" Blank snapped bluntly.

"Alright that's enough!" Baku stepped in.

Dagger sighed, keeping quiet as the others argued. _Are the always like this?_ she asked herself silently. _ Maybe I should reconsider about joining them on their journey._

Blank had turned his head away from Draco, but Draco kept starring at Blank. The man looked at Blank's arm intently, studying the tattoo of the dragon. _I know I've seen that mark before,_ he thought. _ A black dragon… I wonder…_

Later that morning, after everyone else was up, they all met in the dining room. Their were plenty of chairs for everyone to sit in, seeing as the table was so large.

"Well, I guess we should be headin' off," Baku told them.

"Thanks for all of your help," Blank added.

"Dagger, you should come with us," Zidane said with a glimmer of hope in his voice.

"Well actually, I was planning on it. That is if no one minds."

"Of course we don't mind," Eiko beamed. "We want you to come!" 

Dagger smiled and looked back at Steiner and Beatrix.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. We'll take care of things here at the castle," Beatrix assured her, practically reading Dagger's thoughts.

"Then I guess that's settled," Dagger said, looking back to Zidane.

"We're glad," Zidane smiled.

_Inner Zidane-- "YAAAAAAAAAAYYY!"_

"Yay! Another female companion," Ruby enthusiastically added. "It's so nice not having to hang out with just guys all the time."

Dagger smiled. They all said goodbye to Steiner, Beatrix, and Tot; then headed off towards the airship. Dagger had already packed her stuff the night before, so she took her belongings and set them in the room that was given to her, the same room as Kaira.

"I hope you're not allergic to cats," Kaira said as she walked into the room.

"Meow…" (A/N that's was Kilala meowing incase you couldn't figure that out.)

"Aww…what a cute little cat," Dagger leaned down to pet Kilala. "Her eyes are very umm…red, though. And she has two tails. What type of cat is she anyway?"

"Well, to be honest I don't know. I mean, I don't even know what I am, let alone what Kilala is."

"Yeah, I sort of know what you mean. For a long time, I didn't know any of that either." Dagger set her suit case down on her new bed, and reminisced about the past and all that she had learned on her adventure with Zidane.

Kaira just stood starring at her, slightly puzzled. "You mean, you didn't know anything about your past? But how come? I thought you had always lived in Alexandria."

"It's a long story. I'll tell it to you sometime, but right now I have to get my stuff unpacked."

"'Kay, I'll see ya later." Kaira set her stuff down on her bed and started for the door.

"Aren't you gonna unpack too?"

Kaira turned back around to face Dagger. "Nah. I'm a little less organized than you are…heh." Then she turned back towards the door and walked out.

Kaira walked over to the side of the airship and leaned against the side railing. She stood there for a while and watched the sun that had just recently risen. She also watched the ground as it passed by below them. 

"Wish I could see the scenery like everyone else can…?" Blank said from behind her. He had been watching her from behind, but she was too caught up in the view to notice him. 

"Oh, Blank. I didn't know anyone was there," (A/N obviously, since I just said that) "Sorry."

"About what?" he asked in confusion.

"About you being…well, blind," Kaira stuttered.

Blank just laughed at her.

"What? I didn't know what else to say, alright! Stop laughing at me."

Blank fought to compose himself. "It's fine. I've gotten use to being blind. It doesn't bother me now; in fact I hardly notice it anymore."

Kaira looked down at Blank's side, noticing a sword sheath. "How do you fight?"

"The boss trained me pretty hard until I finally got the skill to fight without using my eyes."

"The boss? Why is it that everyone here calls him that? Why doesn't anyone just call him 'Baku'?"

"Cause if we do, we'll probably get punished." Blank got the vibe the Kaira was a bit confused, "Don't ask. He has a strange and strict way of doing things. But he really does care about us, even if he doesn't show it. If any of us are ever in trouble, the boss always has our back."

"…Must be nice…to have someone like that."

"What do you mean? Draco seems to be just as loyal to you, if not more."

Kaira stared down at the ground moving beneath her, a frown on her face. "Yeah, he is."

Blank could tell there was more to this than what she was saying. "It's ok. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want."

Kaira smiled at his comment.

_God, this is so hard… _Blank thought silently. _ I really don't know what to say to women…well, I guess I'm doing alright. I mean, she hasn't run away from me or slapped me or anything yet. Getting slapped is what always happens to Zidane. Yea, note to self, don't say anything perverted. _Blank looked over at Kaira as she stood watching the scenery. He couldn't make out certain things about her such as her hair color, the color of her clothes, stuff like that; nor could he see much of the details of her face. But he could tell that she was thin, and very fit. Basically everything pertaining to her figure (which is really all that most guys care about). Blank scanned her body, looking her up and down. _ Hey I didn't realize she had a tail,_ he thought to himself. He then found himself starring at where the tail was connected at. _ Oh crap… shouldn't be starring there … damn it, bad thoughts, bad thoughts! _(A/N Bad Blank! Bad!) 

Kaira, of course was oblivious to everything going on in Blank's head (which is probably for the best). She was too hypnotized by the scenery as they flew over the country side of the Mist Continent, in between Alexandria and Lindblum. It would be a while still before they even saw the shore of the Forgotten Continent.

Yay! Another chapter done. I'm still not sure about the title of this one though. I don't know how well it fits in with the chapter. If you can come up with a better title for it, or if you like the title I already have, please let me know. Thanks! Luv ya! __

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	10. A Secret ALMOST revealed

Yay! I finally got to update "Through Dragons Eyes"! I've been focusing so much on my other fan fiction (not that _that _matters anymore...) and on school crap that I never really got the chance to do anything with this one (but I did warn you about that in my profile, so you cant be mad at me…I hope). Gosh, I had to go back and re-read my chapters, I had completely forgotten where I was at. By the way, I went back and edited the previous chapters. Most of what I did was just fixing typos, but I _did _add a few new scenes here and there. You probably wouldn't notice what was old and what was new though. Anyway, you've waited long enough for the tenth chapter, so lets just get started!

Disclaimer: I've said it before and I'll say it again…I hate disclaimers. …They're so depressing. No, I don't own FFIX! There! I said it! Now leave me to bask in my sorrows! --sigh--  
But I _do_ own Kaira, Draco, Garron, and any other OCs of mine that will be added later.

**Chapter 10  
A Secret _Almost_ Revealed **

Ruby sat in one of the large central rooms of the Prima Vista, Tantalus often used it as a living room on their travels. It was up in the higher levels of the airship, where the windows surrounding the room gave off a beautiful view to those inside.

"Ugh! This trip is so boring! I'm going crazy!" Ruby complained as she sat on a cushioned bench near one of the large wall-length windows.

"Yeah, we gotta find something to do. Anything to pass the time!" Kaira added.

"Oh! I know," Zidane chimed in. "Lets play Truth or Dare. No, better yet, Spin the Bottle!"

Cinna made a droll face at Zidane. "Zidane, you're not in high-school anymore."

"So what? I'm in college, that's close enough."

"Hey, what's that suppose to mean? I'm in high-school and I never play those games," Blank argued.

Cinna glared at the two of them and sighed. "Why do you two have to find entertainment by arguing with people when you're bored?"

"...Anyway, new subject!" Ruby butted back in.

Eiko stood up suddenly. "I know what we can do. A sing-a-long! There were ten in the bed and the little one said 'Roll over. Roll over.' So they all rolled over and one fell off!"

Kaira glared at Eiko, cuffing her hand over the seven year olds mouth. "How about we don't."

Eiko threw Kaira's hand off of her mouth and stuck her tongue out at her. "Well, then what do _you_ suggest we do? Huh?

"Tie you up, and throw you off the side of the ship."

Blank and Zidane both started laughing, only to be glared at by Eiko. ...That quickly shut them up.

"Kaira, be nice!" Draco said to the mischievous wolf, and sighed. "Why do I find myself telling you that over and over again every single day?

"Be-cause … you can't keep you're mouth shut," she answered.

"Reverse that, Kaira. YOU can't keep you're mouth shut."

"Oh yeah!" Kaira and Draco both started arguing back and forth at each other. Blank just sat there, watching them. He couldn't help but smile at their fighting. He caught himself staring at her, which he had been doing since they left Lindblum. _I hope I'm not too obvious, _he thought. _I don't want her to think I'm some sort of stalker or something. _Blank sighed, forgetting about everyone else in the room and focusing on his own thoughts. _I don't know what it is about her…but I can't get her off my mind… _

"Kaira, when are you gonna learn to respect those in authority over you!" Draco yelled at her.

"When you become _worthy_ of my respect!" She yelled back.

"Should we do something…?" Ruby whispered to Marcus.

"Nah," he answered. "Let them argue. At least we're not bored anymore. Heck, maybe we'll even get our own private wrestling match." Marcus looked over and smiled at Ruby.

Ruby just laughed in response. "You're so mean…"

_I wonder what we'll find out in Daguerreo, _Blank's thoughts continued. _Do I even wanna find out anything? I've never really thought of this mark on my arm as anything at all. _

Blank thought back on Dr. Tot's words

…"_That mark may have more significance than you think it does"… _

What did he mean…? Am I the only one who doesn't know what in the hell is so interesting about my arm! Blank sighed, not even realizing how loud he had.

"Something wrong Blank?" Marcus, who was sitting beside him on the couch, asked.

"What? …uh. No, nothing's wrong. Sorry."

"You seem depressed. That's unlike you?"

"No," he shook his head, faking a smile. "I'm was just thinking. I'm fine. Really."

Draco grabbed Kaira's wrists. "If you don't start acting more proper I'm gonna -"

"LET GO OF ME!" Kaira yelled as she suddenly surrounded her body with flames, slightly burning both of Draco's hands.

Draco drew back in pain. "Kaira, you wench!"

"Ya know, you're making just as much an idiot out of yourself as I am," Kaira snapped at him, getting up in his face while kneeling on all fours (A/N they had been sitting on the floor, by the way).

Draco smiled slightly. "Then why don't we shut up now…?"

"Good idea…" the wolf agreed.

"We're their everyone," Genero announced over the intercom.

"Imagine that," Baku said. "We've been sitting here bored out of our minds for so long, that we're finally there now."

Genero piloted the airship, landing it just outside of Daguerreo. The group got out and made their way inside the rock cavern, admiring the beauty of the waterfalls as they passed by.

"Hey, Marcus," Blank said to his 'bro.' "What does it look like...?"

Marcus looked back at him, slightly confused. Then he looked back over at the beautiful waterfalls and realized what he meant.

"Is it as awesome as I'm picturing it to be?"

Marcus smiled. "Yeah, it is. The water is crystal clear, the rocks of the cliff are amazing!" He glanced back at his 'little brother.' "I'm sure you'll get to see it one day."

Blank just smiled at Marcus' pathetic attempt at optimism. Blank appreciated Marcus kindness, but he knew it was a lie.

As they walked in, Eiko quickly ran ahead to look around. "Wow! It looks just like the last time we were here. Remember, Dagger?" She said in excitement, running up to a carving of a water dragon on the back wall.

Dagger smiled at the young summoner. "Yeah, I remember." She turned to face Zidane. "It's too bad we couldn't get everyone else together again."

"What do you mean?" Zidane asked.

"Well, you know, the eight of us. Everyone that was with us on our last adventure. Wouldn't it be great if we could get the gang together again, and go on this adventure together as well?"

"Yeah, but Dagger, this time it has nothing to do with us. We're just here for the ride."

"Zidane," the queen said sternly. "That's not true. You're here because you care about Blank, and I'm here because I care about you."

Zidane blushed slightly, but turned his face to hide it from Dagger.

Dagger just smiled and kept walking to catch up with Eiko.

"Hello travelers," a cleyran woman said as she walked up to them. "Welcome to Daguerreo."

"Thank you," Ruby answered.

"Oh, hey Kildea!" Zidane said to the Cleyran.

"Oh, Zidane! Hello. I haven't seen you in over a year." The woman turned to Dagger and nodded her head. "Dagger, how have you been."

(A/N for any of you who haven't figured this out, Cleric Kildea is the woman from Cleyra that sought refuge in Daguerreo in FFIX. Zidane and the others met her while in Cleyra before it was destroyed by Odin ... and yes, I AM aware that I probably seem far too obsessed with the game by knowing all of this)

"Good, thank you. I thought you were going to return to Cleyra to help rebuild it."

"I did," she answered Dagger. She paused for a moment as she watched Eiko stare at the carving of Leviathan and then fall into the water beside her. Kildea laughed, then returned to her conversation. "I helped the people in my city rebuild the cathedral and gave them some of my money to help pay for the costs of rebuilding the rest of the town. But, after staying there a while, I just had to come back to Daguerreo. I loved it here too much to stay in Cleyra."

"Eiko, what are you doing?" Kaira said, standing next to Eiko who was picking herself up from the murky water. "Maybe if you weren't so careless, you wouldn't have fallen in."

"Maybe, if you weren't so fat, I could push you in too," Eiko retorted.

"I am _not_ fat!" Kaira yelled back.

Baku glared at the two girls. "Kaira! Eiko! Shut the hell up!"

Kildea just smiled. "I see you brought a lot more people with you this time," she said to Zidane and Garnet. "So what brings you here anyway?"

"We're here," Draco started. "Because we were told this place may have some writings about the history of the Dragon race."

Blank wanted to tell her about the whole incident with Garron and about the tattoo on his arm, which he had never thought much of before. However, Blank had always been the quiet type, at least around strangers, so he kept silent.

"The Dragon race, huh?" Kildea responded. "Yes, we have many records here of dragon history, seeing as the people here are worshippers of Leviathan. Come." She headed towards the damp, stone stairs that led to a large library. The others all followed her.

Baku plumped down at a small table with Cinna and Blank: Baku and Cinna because they were lazy, Blank because he wouldn't be able to read anything anyway. Everyone else explored the library and Kildea searched for the books that her friends sought.

"Hey Dagger!" Eiko said in excitement. "Look! It's a book on eidolons. Maybe we'll find some in here that we've never heard of." She flipped it open as Dagger knelt own beside her. "Like this one!" the little Summoner continued. "It's name is...Qu - Queza ... um... I don't know how to pronounce it."

"I think it's Quezacotl," Garnet replied. She read the page over Eiko's shoulder. "It says that it's a thunder bird with a light green body and yellow markings on its neck and wings."

"Cool!" Eiko shouted. "Oh whoops ... am I suppose to be quiet?"

Dagger just smiled and nodded her head.

"And this one here is Valefor," Eiko continued, whispering this time. "A dragon type eidolon with odd colored markings and a laser-like attack called 'Energy Ray.' Dagger, I wanna see these!" She said in excitement, forgetting once again about the volume of her voice. Dagger just laughed in response.

"Ahh, here's what I was looking for," Kildea walked back over to the table that Baku and Cinna had been lounging at (A/N stupid fat people --glare-- And I apologize if that offends anyone --sweat drop-- whoops). The other all gathered around the table. "You said you were looking for a book that might tell you something a dragon mark, right? Like the one on Blank's arm?" She looked down at the page she had opened the book to. "Well, here it is." She turned the book around and pushed it towards Blank.

"What is it?" Blank asked, not being able to see what was on the page.

"I don't believe it," Marcus said to Blank. "That mark in the book is the same as yours." There before them, on the page of the book, were three pictures. One of a white dragon, one of a red dragon, and one ... of a black dragon.

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Yay! Another chapter finished! And I promise, it wont take me like five months to get the next one up like it did this one. I can't wait to get started on the next chapter. And I apologize for not replying to your reviews. I'll make sure to do that next chapter! You have my word! But you can't get a reply if you don't review!In fact, I'm not going to update until I get at least 3 more reviews. So review please!


	11. A Fire in His Darkness

I don't know how much longer I'm going to keep updating this story. I promised you all that I'd finish it, so I'll definitely do that; but I'm just not getting much feedback on it anymore. I was originally gonna give a sequel and possibly a prequel as well. But I don't know...we'll see what happens. Anyway, hope you enjoy, and please review.

**Chapter Eleven  
A Fire in His Darkness **

"I don't believe you..." Blank snapped at Marcus. "This is everyone's idea of a sick joke, and I'm not falling for it."

"Blank, do you really think I'd lie to you?" Marcus tried to convince him. "It's right here in front of my face!"

"He's telling you the truth," Draco interrupted. "I knew it from the moment I saw your left arm."

"...knew what?" Blank asked, still untrusting of anything that was being told to him.

"I knew that _you _are the Dragon of Darkness."

"You knew that I was what? I'm not a dragon, okay? If I were a dragon, I would look like a fucking dragon!"

"Blank, don't get mad. Please," Kaira innocently pleaded. "Draco knows everything about the Dragon race. He knows what he's talking about."

Blank didn't respond. He just sighed heavily and kept quiet. _How does she do that? _he asked himself. _I never listen to anyone, and here I am obeying her every word. ...Damn it! What is it about her? _Blank placed his head in his hand as though he had a headache. "I'm sorry Draco... I don't wanna discuss this here." He then got up from the table. "I'm going back to the airship..." Blank walked away and back down the steps leading to the first level of the small city. Marcus got up after and followed him.

Draco," Kaira said after the two guys had left. "You're this one...aren't you?" she said, pointing to one of the pictures in the book. "You're the red dragon here, right? That's what you meant a few years ago when you told me you were a 'special' dragon."

"...That's right. The Dragon of Neutrality."

"Dagger, can we go look at more books now?" Eiko obliviously asked. Dagger just shook her head grimly, which told Eiko _"Now's not the time." _

Back in the airship Blank walked furiously into the main living quarter, only to find Zenny and Benny wrestling each other on the ground and Genero sitting nonchalantly in the corner of the room reading a book. He had gotten used to just ignoring his brothers' foolery over the years.

(A/N just so you all know, in my stories I've made Zenero the trouble maker: carefree, immature, and a little simple minded. Genero I've made the intellectual one: proper, very book smart, and constantly trying to keep his brothers out of trouble. And then Benero I've just made more of the normal one. But he's a little more like Zenny than he is Genero.)

Blank nearly started to laugh when he saw the antics of the triplets, but he quickly reminded himself that he was upset. He then stormed into the room and sat down at a wooden table on the opposite side of the small room from the neros...Marcus, of course, was right behind him.

Marcus sat down on the opposite side of the small, round table, not sure if he should say anything or not. Andif he should say something, what should he say? He never considered himself very good at these kinds of things, at least not as good as Blank was. Blank always found a way to cheer people up no matter how down they were. Marcus couldn't do that.

"So, uh...a dragon?" Marcus nervously said. It seemed now as if he had known Blank forever, and yet he still found it hard to comfort the enigmatic seventeen year old. "That's kinda cool if you ask me," he continued. "I don't understand why you're so bent outta shape about it. You really hate dragons that much?" Marcus tried to joke.

Blank just sighed, staring at the floor.

The three Nero bros had stopped their bickering now, curious to know what was wrong, and knowing that now probably wasn't a good time to fight with each other. Genero, Zenny, and Benny just sat there watching Marcus and Blank: Genero pretending to read his book while in reality he was eavesdropping, and Zenny and Benny not moving from their spot on in the middle of the floor.

"Come on, Blank. Talk to me," Marcus tried to persuade him. "What's _really_ wrong? Don't you wanna know about your past?"

"No!" Blank stated firmly. "I didn't wanna know _anything_. I was fine with my life in Tantalus. I was happy not knowing what those damned nightmares were about..." He paused a moment, feeling tears in his eyes but forcing himself to contain them. He thanked God for once that he had this blindfold around his eyes, not wanting even Marcus to see him this emotional. "But now that I'm learning more. Now that I know about Garron and all of this dragon crap...It's like the memories that had been locked up inside are coming back to me. I can remember things about my childhood that...I wish I couldn't."

"Well, we don't really know for sure that Garron has anything to do with this," Marcus tried to sound optimistic. "He may have something to do with Kaira's past, but nothing to do with yours."

"No," replied Blank grimly. "You're wrong." Marcus just stared at the his red haired "bro" intently, sympathetically. "He's my father..."

"Your what!" Marcus nearly shouted. "How do you know that? Did he say he was? He was probably lying. Don't trust him!" Marcus was almost infuriated and he really didn't know why. Was it out of protectiveness? Not wanting to believe, maybe?

"Remember those nightmares I told you about..." said Blank to Marcus, almost at a whisper, but Marcus couldn't tell if it was out of secrecy or just that Blank's pain wouldn't let him speak any louder.

"Yeah," Marcus answered. "I remember."

"_I told you to kill the boy and you deliberately disobeyed me!" _

_"I cannot kill my own son!"_

_"Then you shall die as well..."_

_"Run! Run away from here! Save yourself!"_

_"Mama!"_

Blank flinched, clenching his fist and turning his head away from Marcus. "So they _weren't_ just dreams..." Blank said, more to himself rather than to Marcus.

"Blank..."

"...They were memories."

At that moment, Kaira and the others returned from the library. Draco just looked at the blind red head, scoffed and turned to walk out of the room.

"Wait," Blank called to the Dragon of Neutrality. Draco stopped and half turned towards him, but never once lifting his head to see him.

"If I'm a dragon as you say I am," Blank questioned. "then why can't I transform into one?"

"Because," Draco replied as if the answer was obvious. "The current Dragon of Darkness is still alive. And there can only be one."

"Garron..." Blank said beneath his breath.

"Correct." With that, Draco left the room of the Prima Vistato outer deck of the ship.

"Man!" Zidane said after Draco had left and shut the door. Zidane stepped over to Blank and Marcus and placed his hands hard on the table. "That's freakin' awesome, Blank! A dragon? And I thought having a monkey tail was cool!"

Blank smiled for the first time since arriving in Daguerreo. "Zidane," he said, looking up at the blonde genome, and standing from his seat. "You're an idiot." Blank then walked away before Zidane could respond. It was one of his favorite things to do to the monkey tailed annoyance: insult him and then walk away before Zidane can defend himself. Blank finally felt like himself again, but knew it probably wouldn't last long.

Blank walked out the door, to the outside of the airship. Kaira and Kilala followed behind him; of course nobody noticed this. If they had, Zidane would have made a lecherous comment and then suggested that they all go spy on the two red heads.

Out on the deck of the ship Blank stood with his arms on the railing, staring out across a beautiful, mountainous landscape he couldn't see. He could hear the roar of the waterfalls that hid Daguerreo in the side of the mountain. More than that, he could hear the roar of the airship as Baku must have ordered one of his fellow Tantalus members to start the ship. Where were they planning on going? This island of Kaira's maybe? Who knows? Blank didn't care.

"Something wrong?" Kaira said, standing behind Blank who nearly fell over not expecting anyone to be there. Kaira just smiled at his clumsiness. "You seem a little depressed," she continued. "I haven't known you long, but I have a feeling you're not like this very often."

Kilala sat down next to Blank's leg and lightly pawed at him. "Meow."

Blank looked down at the strange looking cat. "Her eyes..." Blank said, avoiding Kaira's question, although she couldn't tell if he had done it on purpose or not. She assumed he had. "I can't see them, but from what I've heard, I think they look a lot like mine."

Kaira looked down at Kilala who was staring up at Blank. The cat had big red eyes. All red. No white in them. Kaira all of a sudden felt depressed. She didn't know why, and she didn't really like the feeling. Who would?

"People have called her a demon before," Blank stated as if he had known the cat her whole life.

"Yes," Kaira answered, switching her gaze to Blank and wondering how he knew. "They have."

"I know the feeling." Blank suddenly turned his head over to Kaira. "I'm sorry," he suddenly said. "I didn't mean to throw all of this at you! It's _my_ problem, not yours." For a moment Blank's face turned the same shade as his hair. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "Forget everything I just said."

Kaira smiled again, thanking the gods that Blank couldn't see her do so. "I always hate when people say that." Blank just glanced over at her, not saying anything and not knowing what she was talking about.

"When people say 'Just forget it' as if it's really that simple. You can't just forget something that was told to you thirty seconds ago, can you?"

Blank thought a second. "Well, I suppose you could if you were never really listening to begin with," he smart-aleckly answered.

"Well, unfortunately for you, I'm a good listener."

The airship suddenly jerked skyward, throwing Kaira slightly off balance. Blank was about to steady her, but she had already done that herself. _Man, _Blank complained to himself. _Why does she have to be so independent? It makes _my _job a little bit harder. How can I be her knight in shining armor if she's constantly saving herself?_ His thoughts then left the subject of Kaira and returned to himself. _How can I be a knight _at all _if I'm a dragon...? _

"Damn," Kaira swore. "I hate this stupid ship!"

Now Blank smiled at _her_. "Airships aren't your thing, huh?"

She just glared at the ship as if it was suppose to apologize to her in response. "No...they're not." she sighed. "I prefer more natural ways of flying."

"Do you know where we're going?"

"My old home. The island of Gerudo northeast of the Forgotten Continent. The women there will be able to tell us a lot about Garron."

"Women?" Blank asked. He suddenly realized how perverse that sounded. "I mean!" He tried to correct himself. "Why just women?"

Kaira laughed. "The Gerudo are a mostly female group of bandits...pirates actually. They formed a long time ago by some women who had been badly beaten by men. They decided to join together and find a way to get by on their own. The way they chose was through thievery. Eventually, other women joined them, and some men as well which they didn't allow at first, but slowly warmed up to the idea." Kaira stopped to make sure she wasn't boring him. He seemed to be listening so she kept going. "The island was desserted when they first landed there, but now they've turned it into a small village, their base."

"So _you're_ a pirate and _I'm_ a thief," Blank replied, letting Kaira know that he was indeed paying attention.

She laughed. "Yeah, I guess that's the case.A thief and a pirate.A red haired guy and a red haired girl. A black dragon and a black wolf. Both with some ties to Garron..."

"Black wolf? I know you have a wolf tail and wolf ears, but supposedly I'm actually gonna be able to transform fully into a dragon...someday."

"Oh," Kaira smirked. "And you don't think I can do that?"

"Well, I..." Blank stopped mid-sentence when he glanced over to where Kaira had been standing beside him and saw a black wolf sitting in her place. Well, he knew it was a canine like creature that looked wolfish; other than that, his sightlessness wouldn't reveal any more to him. "...Kaira?"

The big, black canine gave out a small _woof_ and turned back into a human, the black ears and furry tail staying the same. "What?" Kaira asked, smiling and trying not to laugh at his surprised expression. "You don't like hairy women?" she joked. The two then burst out laughing, forgetting all the seriousness of their conversation.

"Wow," Blank said, after the two had stopped laughing. "I haven't laughed like that in," he stopped to think of how long it had been since this all started. "almost a week. I haven't been happy at all in almost a week."

"And I made you happy again?" Kaira asked followed by a _mew mew_ from the kitty below the her.

Blank rested his arm on the railing of the airship, placing one hand on his face to casually cover up that it was turning red again. "Yeah," he answered. "I guess you did."

Blank and Kaira had been talking for almost a half hour now. And Blank had seemingly forgotten all about his problems. He no longer cared about Garron, about his past, or about the strange mark on his left arm. He was happy. It seemed to him like it had been ages since he could say that about himself. _Maybe that's why I like her so much, _Blank thought silently as Kaira gazed out over the vast landscape beneath them. _Like Kaira just said, we do have a lot in common. She's like another best friend, but I don't think anyone could ever replace Marcus. I've never met a girl like her. I lo...what was I about to say...? Love? Was I about to say 'love'! OH MY GOD! I WAS! I don't love her. I barely know her! I can't love a girl I barely know... Can I? I've never been all that interested in girls. What's so different about her to make that change all of a sudden? Besides, even if I did fall for her, she'd never like me. Not in that way. I mean, she comes from a village full of sexist women. Girls have never liked me. I mean, why would they wanna date an ugly blindfolded guy? Of course she's not gonna fall for an idiot like me. If I do...love her, I'm probably better off just pretending I don't. No...no! I do NOT like her! I don't! I never wanna fall in love. _

"Something on your mind, Blank?" _Kaira asked._

"No, it's nothing."

The Prima Vista was now flying over the red rocky terraces of the Forgotten Continent. The sun was fading under the western sky, leaving behind a fiery afterglow. The sky to the east slowly fading to black. It only seemed an appropriate sight as the black wolf of fire and the black dragon of darkness stood beside each other, watching the sky reflect an image of themselves.


	12. Nothing's Changed

I wont ramble on about nothing this time...for once. I'll just say thanks real quick to all of my reviewers who have been reading all this time and have been patient with my slow updates. Hope you enjoy!

**Chapter Twelve  
Nothing's Changed. Disaster When I Left, Disaster When I Returned. **

The Prima Vista had flown all through the night and into the next morning. Baku for some reason seemed to have something against stopping for the night, which Blank assumed was because Baku was never the one who had to stay up steering the thing.

"We'll be able to see Gerudo soon," Draco announced to Marcus who was standing outside on the bow of the airship with him. Marcus had been doing his usual cleaning chores, Draco just standing and watching the view.

Marcus stopped his mopping and walked over beside the human-disguised dragon. "How big is it?"

"Fairly, small for an island," the brown haired man replied. "The only inhabitants on it are the Gerudo and a few nomadic groups. The landscape is mostly desert."

"As is the rest of the Forgotten Continent."

A small meowing sound came from beneath Marcus's feet. "Ah, Kilala. How did you get out here?"

"She sensed something was wrong," a young feminine voice answered from behind. "Draco, I sense it too. Something _is_ wrong, isn't it?"

The dragon didn't answer Kaira. He kept staring, his eyes fixed on the ocean where his island would soon appear.

"I knew something bad would happen when we came back," Kaira said, sounding rather disgusted with herself for having agreed to come. "We're not meant to go back there, Draco. At least, I'm not."

"Stop worrying yourself," said another voice from behind the three. Zidane walked over to them nonchalantly. "Whatever the reason is you left, it's in the past. But right now, you gotta go back. So get over it. Do you wanna find out more about the person who's trying to kill you or not?"

Draco shrugged in surprise. "The missing link actually said something intelligent."

"Thank y– H-Hey!"

Kaira kept quiet. She had been uneasy about her homecoming ever since the idea came up for them to go there. She had left the island two years ago when she was thirteen, along with Draco and Kilala. The three ventured across Gaia, using their wings as transportation. No specific destination. Not a care in the world. Just traveling and living off the elements. Kaira missed that life. It hadn't been all that long ago since she had lived that way, but now that she met Tantalus, now that she was wrapped up in this whole ordeal, she couldn't go back to that life. Not for a while anyway. Now, instead of enjoying herself free-flying over the ocean on her way to nowhere, she was flying over the ocean cooped up in this overly decorated air-polluter on her way to an island full of people who wanted nothing to do with her.

Kilala paced beneath everyone's feet in anticipation of something. She knew something everyone else didn't.

"Hey, Kaira," Zidane called. "Are all of the Gerudo able to control fire like you and Kilala can?"

"No, why?"

"Oh...well, then I think your island is on fire..." the genome stated bluntly.

"What!" Kaira and Draco shouted in unison. Kaira ran over beside Draco to the edge of the airship.

"Is it really smoke or just a cloud?" Kaira looked at Draco in askance.

"Don't ask questions now," he commanded. "Just come!" The man leapt off the side of the airship, shocking Zidane and Marcus. The two men looked down from the airship expecting to see Draco falling, but instead saw a large rust colored dragon gracefully lifting himself along the air currents. Kaira hopped over the edge to follow him, her feathery black wings appearing from nowhere and lifting her onward. She was in no hurry to get to the island and dreaded that she had to arrive sooner than everyone else. But greater than her fear of returning to her home, was her fear of Draco's wrath. With a loud sigh which Draco was too far away to hear, the wolf eared, raven winged girl flew behind him hesitantly.

About fifteen minutes later, the airship landed smoothly on a sandy beach. Blank, Marcus, Zidane, Dagger, Eiko, Ruby, Cinna, Baku, and Kilala all climbed out of the airship and onto the scorching hot island.

"Ahh..." Eiko groaned. "It's so hot here!"

"Well, you're the one who agreed to come," Zidane pointed out. "No one made you."

Eiko glared at him. "What are you saying? That you don't _want_ me here?"

"Eh, I...All I said was..." Zidane sighed and shut his mouth. If he had learned anything about Eiko (more like women in general) since he met her, it was that he could not for the life of him win an argument with her.

"Blank," Dagger spoke. "Do you sense anything?"

"Sense?" Blank asked back.

"Well," she hesitated, feeling rather nosy for even asking. "You can sense blood, can't you?"

"Oh, is that what you meant? Yes, I can."

"And?" Marcus joined the conversation.

"Their village has been slaughtered," Blank said more casually than he probably should have. Luckily, neither Kaira nor Draco were there to hear him.

Everyone gasped.

"They've been what?" Dagger exclaimed, knowing full well what he said, but not wanting to believe it. "Who would do such a thing?"

"Who do you think?" Blank asked, starting the hike down the clear dirt path that he assumed led to Kaira's village.

Garnet fell silent. She had said too much. Dagger really liked Blank as a friend, but she always felt like she had to watch what she said around him. She didn't know why she felt this way. It wasn't as if he was the type to get upset easily. Maybe she just sensed that there was always something troubling him deep inside. Call it a Summoner's sixth sense.

The group followed Blank down the dirt path, the scent of ash soaked the air. To Blank's nose, that scent was mixed with blood. They were confused at first as to whether they were going the right way, but Kilala quickly diminished that doubt. She knew exactly where she was.

Meanwhile, Draco and Kaira stood speechless at the entrance to the small village. Draco kept his expression stoic, while Kaira glanced around wide-eyed at the smoldering houses and ashen corpses still lying on the ground.

Two young women walked out of one of the stone buildings near Kaira and Draco.

"There's only a few more, I th– " the girl paused, starring in shock at Kaira and the dragon. "...Kaira...?"

The red haired wolf-girl gazed emotionless at her burn covered, old friend. "Navrul...I'm glad you're alive."

The girl that Kaira referred to as Navrul struggled to breathe. She was overwhelmed at the sight before her. First the only home she ever knew was destroyed, and now her best friend who had been missing for years had returned. "Kaira!" the girl shouted, racing towards Kaira as fast her injured legs would carry her. The other woman with her followed behind at a slower pace.

At reaching Kaira and Draco, the navy haired girl jumped Kaira, wrapping her arms around her in a hug. The two teens slammed against the dusty ground. "I can't believe you're here! _Alive_!" Navrul shouted. "And Draco," the girl continue, standing up from on top of Kaira, who also stood up once she was able to. "Were you two together this _whole_ time?"

"We were," Draco answered. "Had it not been for me, I guarantee you she wouldn't be back here right now..._alive_." He emphasized the word 'alive' just as Navrul had. "We weren't planning on coming back to this island at all, but our plans were changed."

"Not planning on coming back?" Navrul repeated his words. "But..." The girl sounded hurt.

"Kaira," the older woman said. "We are so glad to see you alive and well." The woman was far older than the other two. Well into her fifties, she was one of the village elders, a sage of their kind. "I believe it not to be a coincidence that you should return at such a time as this. For it was under these circumstances that you first disappeared."

"Under what circumstances?" A man asked from behind Kaira.

It was Zidane. Dagger stood beside him in front of the others as they all approached the ember covered village.

"What a horrible sight..." Ruby stated, standing beside Blank.

"I'll take your word for it," Blank replied, half joking.

"How can you even make a joke about something like this?" Ruby asked, flustered at how uncaring he seemed.

"There's just," he paused and sighed. "something I don't like about this place."

"Kaira," Navrul whispered. "Who are they?"

"They're why our plans were changed."

"Quite a large crowd you two have brought back to us," said the old woman as she counted how many of them there were. "I apologize that you all have come at such a bad time. Please, come with us and we'll do what we can to make you comfortable here." The woman grabbed Navrul's arm and motioned for Kaira and her guests to follow.

"Ah!" Zidane exclaimed as they all followed the old woman. He had suddenly noticed Dagger crying. "What's wrong?" He always hated when women cried.

"It's just...this scene...the flames...the dead...it all seems too familiar. I loved my mother, really I did. But I sometimes find myself dwelling on the thought of how she could have done something so heartless..."

Zidane walked silently beside her. It had been almost two years now since her mother died, and a year since Zidane had come back to Alexandria after the whole incident was over. But Zidane noticed that Dagger still didn't seem to be healing emotionally. He felt bad for her. And he always tried to make her laugh and comfort her. But he wondered if she would ever be able to fully let go of the past and focus on the present. "Dagger..." was all Zidane said. He wrapped his arm around her in an attempt to comfort her, no lecherous intentions behind it this time. For once, Garnet didn't object.

The group of ten had been led to a house in a section of the village that hadn't been burned. Everyone they passed seemingly stopped what they were doing and gazed at the group. Not only was it unusual to see a group of strangers here, it was also unusual for more than half of those strangers to be men. Also, the name 'Kaira' was overheard time and time again among the people they passed.

"I don't understand why you didn't wanna come back," Blank said to Kaira as the group rested in the stone house. "It seems like everyone here missed you like hell."

"So it seems," Kaira answered. She meant the words literally, feeling as though it only _seemed_ like they were happy she was back.

"Kaira, stop holding a grudge," Draco said sternly. "Are you not even the slightest bit happy to be back?"

Kaira sighed. "I guess I'll go and see if anyone else I know is still alive," she said, completely ignoring Draco as she always did. "Anyone wanna come with me?"

"I will," Blank responded, sighing slightly. "After all, I guess I _am_ the reason we're here. Might as well see what we can find out."

Blank had learned, over the years of being with Tantalus, the art of perfected acting. He gave off the impression to everyone else that he was reluctant to even be here and that all he wanted was to find out about his past and leave. Ha, Blank just laughed at how oblivious they all were. Even Kaira had no idea that all he really wanted was to spend time with her.

The two – with Kilala following beneath them– walked around the village, stopping frequently while people either gave Kaira hugs and kisses, or scowled and rebuked her for showing her face here. It seemed to Blank like everyone here knew who she was. Was she really _that_ well known? Kids that had been told to stay inside rushed to their windows to see the wolf-girl. They as well seemed to be divided, taking sides as to whether Kaira was the hero or the antagonist. Although Blank couldn't visually see the expressions on everyone's faces or the children in the windows, he could hear their words clear as day: every "Welcome home!" and every "How dare you come back!"

Blank couldn't help but get the feeling that not all of the attention was on Kaira. Were people watching _him_ too? Then again, when you can't see anyone else, it's understandable to be a little self-conscious.

"Oh, Kaira!" another woman walked up to them, she appeared to be around thirty. "I heard you were back, but I had to see you for myself." She gave Kaira a hug.

"I'm glad to see you're well, Kiri." Kaira smiled. "Now _you,_ I believe."

"Huh?" Kiri looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing," Kaira answered. "I'm just glad to see that whatever happened here didn't kill you too."

"Oh...you mean no one told you what caused all of this?"

"Well, I assumed it was this Garron person. I know that he's come back."

"Yes..." she answered. "It was Garron's doing...but he didn't destroy the village."

"Then who did?" Blank joined the conversation.

"...Nikora..." Kiri hesitated to say the name.

"What!" Kaira yelled.

"Who's that?" Blank asked her.

"She's the leader of the Gerudo...How could she destroy her own village?" Kaira sounded distraught at the idea of this.

"I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you, Kaira," Kiri seemed just as hurt as Kaira did. "I know how much you look up to her. We all looked up to her."

"I don't understand," Kaira tried to make sense of what she had just been told. "He had to have done something to her! There's no way Nikora would do this otherwise."

"Lets just pray to Bahamut that that's true," Kiri answered. "And that he wont hurt her any worse than that."  
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Gah! I didn't wanna end the chapter like this. Am I dragging this out or something? I'm not meaning too... Well, since this chapter ended up taking up so much more space than I thought it would, I promise you the next chapter WILL be up soon. I'm eager to write more! The next chapter is called "Two Pasts, One Island" and you'll finally get to learn more about Blank and Kaira's pasts. Ah, I can't believe how much closer this keeps getting to the conclusion! I'm so excited! Lol, sorry. Please review!


	13. Two Pasts, One Island

Back again! OMG OMG OMG, I AM SOOOO SORRY! I really was gonna update quickly this time as I promised, but uh...something unexpected happened...A childhood friend of mine, Ozzie Vargas Jr. passed away in September...He was only 17 years old, but he's with Jesus now in Heaven. And I'm glad that he won't ever be in pain again. Ozzie has blessed me with his fun-loving, care-free personality and I can't wait to see him again one day when I get to Heaven too! I recommend all of you visit the link in my profile if you wanna know more about my friend Ozzie and about the way he lived his life. Anyway, here's the chapter you've been waiting for and I'm deeply sorry for the wait...

**Chapter Thirteen  
Two Pasts, One Island **

"Would you wait up?" Blank said to Kaira, trying to keep up with her. "You know, it's a lot easier to rush somewhere when you can actually _see_ where you're going!" Realizing she wasn't going to listen, he quit trying to catch up and just followed from behind. Kilala stayed behind with him, walking at a slower pace.

Once Kiri had gone on her way, Kaira suddenly seemed to be in a rush. Blank couldn't tell if maybe she just didn't wanna talk to anyone else after that or if maybe there was some certain place she was in a hurry to get to. A part of him in the back of his mind was hoping that maybe she just wanted to be alone with him, but he quickly discarded that idea.

He followed Kaira back toward the entrance to the village, and up a road leading behind the houses. Everything here was dirt, nothing paved. It was such a big difference from the big city Blank was used to. As he neared the top of the hill, he heard the whinny of a horse. _What the hell?_ he thought to himself. _Where does she think she's going?_

She stopped at the top of the hill, allowing him to catch up with her. At the top was a large, open area, fenced in to make separate smaller areas. Horses were penned in here. Of course, Blank couldn't figure out what they would need the horses for since Kaira had told him the Gerudo were pirates.

"This is where I used to come when I wanted to be alone," Kaira said once Blank and Kilala had caught up. "The village always seems to have people out everywhere, but up here with the horses, I can have time to myself." She started walking again closer to the horses, Kilala following behind without a second thought. Blank was a little surprised that the tiny creature wasn't afraid of the huge beasts.

Blank and Kaira walked over to a wooden stage that was set up on one side of the huge field. They sat down without saying a word, Kaira just stared out at the horses while Blank watched Kilala run excitedly in and out of the horses legs.

"I'm surprised they still have her," Kaira said out of the blue. "I wonder if they gave her to someone else."

"Um, who are you talking about?" Blank asked, utterly confused.

"My horse," Kaira answered. "Her name is Fire Dancer." Kaira lifted her arm and pointed. "She's that one over...oh, I'm sorry." Kaira felt ridiculously stupid once she remembered that Blank couldn't see where she was pointing.

Blank just laughed. "Don't worry about it. What does she look like?"

"Well, she has beautiful red hair and she's slim and fit. Her tail is really long and she's so graceful." Kaira seemed in awe of the horse.

"So, she's exactly like you," Blank stated rather than asked.

Kaira was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts of the horse. _Wait, I'm...What did he mean by that? I'm exactly like the horse? How so? Crap! What did I just say to describe her? Lets see...red hair...tail...graceful...okay, okay. Good. It's not as big a deal as I thought it was. ...wait, did I say BEAUTIFUL red hair? ...He thinks I'm beautiful? ...No! No, Kaira! Snap out of it!_

Kaira shook her head, attempting to shake the thought from her mind.

"What's wrong?" Blank asked.

"Uhh..." Kaira stuttered for a moment. "It's just...this whole situation. Coming back here after so long. Everything being burned down by our leader." _Good save, Kaira! He doesn't suspect a thing! _

"Oh...yeah, I'm sorry about all of this. It's kinda my fault you're here. Baku sort of made you feel like you had to come. He does that a lot." Blank sighed. _She didn't even catch what I said, did she? Damn, maybe I'm being too discreet about all this. _

"Nikora was my adopted mother," Kaira continued what she had been saying, sounding more serious about it now. "She was the one who had saved me when I first showed up here." Kaira smiled at the memory of it. "I was seven years old."

"So these people were for you what Tantalus is for me," Blank replied.

"Yeah, I guess they were. My family."

"I don't understand why you left. You've made such a big deal about not wanting to come back here, but you haven't said anything about why."

Kaira smiled a little. "It's nothing. I wouldn't wanna bore you with a long sap story."

"I'm sure you can't bore me any more than Zidane can when he goes on and on about girls he knows nothing about. Now come on, talk," Blank urged her.

Happy that someone wanted to take the time to listen to her, and slightly turned on by his stubbornness, Kaira decided she'd finally share a little bit of her past with him. After all, that's what she had been wanting to do for a long time. Just to spend time with him and have a serious talk. _Kaira, you're letting yourself get wrapped up in him,_ she told herself. _Bad idea!_

"A little over two years ago, our village looked a lot like it does now," Kaira started her story. "It makes me wonder if they ever took the time to clean up the mess from before. Anyway, I always hid my wolf-form from the people here. I hide it from everyone, afraid they'll think I'm some beast with fleas."

"You didn't hide it from me," Blank pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but...I guess I thought you could relate."

"I can...a lot," Kaira noted how sad he looked when he said that. "Sorry," Blank said after a pause. "Continue."

"One day..." Kaira began.

(Flashback)

A thirteen year old girl with red hair and black wolf ears slept soundly in her bed, the woman she lived with sleeping just down the hall from her. The only light outside came from the crescent shaped moon above them. It seemed to everyone in the little village like this night was just like every other night before it. But then...

Kaira was shaken awake suddenly by a loud thud and a howling noise. She sat up in her bed and peered out the window of her second story room. "Oh my..." the young teen exclaimed in shock. One of the houses in the village had somehow caught fire. She knew the lady who lived there: a woman and her son and daughter. Kaira's sensitive canine hears picked up another sound...a little boy was being ripped apart by numerous sets of teeth. A mother was crying in fear. A little girl wasn't making a sound...the dead usually don't.

"Kaira!" The girl suddenly heard her name uttered from the hallway. The woman she lived with hurriedly opened the door and rushed inside. "The village is being attacked!" The woman walked over to her and sat down on the bed. "I need to help the others, okay?" she said thoughtfully. "Promise me you'll stay here. Don't go outside!"

Kaira nodded her head, fear obvious in her eyes. The young wolf could sense something the others couldn't. Something was going to go horribly wrong for her today.

The red haired woman smiled at her beloved adopted daughter. "It's nothing we can't handle." The woman, who could have easily passed for the girls real mother as they had such a close resemblance, stood and headed towards the door. "I'll lock your bedroom door on my way out. Keep it locked." She shut the door behind her and Kaira was again alone.

The girl didn't move for a moment. At hearing the front door open, she peered back out her window and watched her mother run off to fight whatever it was that was attacking them. By now, three more houses were on fire. Little by little, the whole village was awaking to the cries of their people.

Kaira watched for a while as more and more people were fleeing their burning houses and flooding into the streets, only to find themselves amidst a pack of rampant wolves. Kaira wondered if all other wolves were like this. Would she be like this one day? She quickly shoved the thought from her mind.

Kaira was startled suddenly by a loud thud on the roof of her house. She glanced up at her ceiling, not that that was going to help. She stood from her bed, not taking her eyes from the ceiling. Thinking her own house had caught on fire from whatever had fallen on it, the girl unlocked her door and ran from the room, down the stairs to the first floor.

Crouching low as to not be seen by these strange attackers, Kaira peeked over the front window of her house to see what was going on outside. She immediately noticed her best friend Navrul in the middle of the street. She was badly burned and unable to stand from the bleeding in her legs.

Kaira's heart was racing so fast, she thought she was going to die of a heart attack. Terrified for her life, but far more terrified for her best friend's life, she did the first thing she thought of: she unlocked the front door and opened it to run out and help her friend.

_Wait! _she thought suddenly, a little too late now that she was already outside amidst all the mayhem. _What am I doing? I can't fight them off! Maybe I..._ Kaira transformed into her wolf form, a glistening, black wolf with hypnotizing emerald eyes. The young, black wolf ran to her human friend and barked at the other canines around her. They barked back.

Navrul sat there in the street, petrified and confused. Why was this one wolf protecting her? Was she talking to the other wolves? Trying to convince them not to attack her? Navrul's spirits rose as it seemed to her like these wolves were actually going to listen to the black wolf who seemed oh too familiar to her.

"Get away from her, you bastard beasts!" A woman shouted, running towards Kaira, Navrul and the pack of canines. "Lay a paw on her and I'll knock your lights out!" Sure enough, that's exactly what the woman did. Next thing Kaira knew, she was flying threw the air after being smacked in the head by a snow shovel. Kaira didn't know what to be more confused about: Why these people were attack her rather than the enemy, or why this woman owned a snow shovel when she lived in the middle of the desert?

Kaira struggled to get back up, but was mobbed by fangs and claws. Luckily for her, the woman who had attacked her now became her savior. The woman beat back those wolves as she had Kaira.

"Stop!" Kaira yelled after she had changed back to her human body. "I'm not one of them. It's me! Kaira!"

"Kaira...?" the woman said in shock. "You started all of this? Why would you do such a horrible thing!"

"What?" Kaira and Navrul said at the same time.

"Mom, Kaira's not– " Navrul tried to speak.

"Get back, Navrul!" the woman said. "I knew you weren't trustworthy, wolf. Get away from my daughter and get out of here!"

Others on the street saw the commotion of the mother and daughter and were quick to lend a hand. Shouts came from every which way, giving Kaira far more bruises than any physical blow could. "Kaira, how could you betray us?" "We trusted you!" "I always knew you were trouble!" "We never should have given you a home, you selfish bitch!"

Eyes wide with fear, the young girl struggled for words as she glanced from person to person. "But...I..." These people were her family. She had loved them, and they had loved her...hadn't they? "You don't really...I would never...Navrul." Kaira wrapped her arms tightly around her best friend, as if to beg her for safety. The two girls clung to each other in fear.

"Mom, stop!" Navrul shouted at her mother. "Stop all of this! All of you!"

"Navrul..." Kaira's voice was barely audible over the sound of crackling flames and angry shouts.

"Let go of her, Navrul," her mother shouted. "She's a murderer and deserves to be treated as such!" Navrul's mother bent down and grabbed one of the two kneeling girls. She pried Navrul away from her beloved friend while the other villagers moved in to finish off the "traitorous" wolf.

Kaira gave one last pleading look to Navrul, a look that said, "I wanna stay with you, but I don't wanna die. I'm terrified for my life." A look that said, "I love you...and I'm sorry..." Kaira hastily changed back into her black wolf form and attempted to dodge the items being swung at her. She did fairly well and was able to free herself from the surrounding circle of attackers. She raced as fast as her battered limbs would take her towards the exit of the village.

As she ran farther and farther from her home, she winced as the sounds of the fires and the dying people steadily drifted further from her sensitive ears. Kaira hadn't kept track of how far she had run, or where she had run for that matter. She found herself on the beach, which wasn't a hard thing to do since this was an island. The small, black wolf collapsed onto the cold sand, panting in long, life-striving breaths. She closed her emerald eyes, twitching her fur covered ears with each crashing wave and each gust of wind.

Without a clue how long she had been laying there on the starry beach, Kaira lifted her head at the sound of very large footsteps behind her. Noting the familiarity in the steps, Kaira didn't alarm herself. She plopped her head back down and waited for the dragon to approach her.

"Kaira," the nineteen foot tall dragon called to his much smaller friend. He shape shifted into a wolf and slowly made his way to her side, sitting down once he reached her and staring out at the moonlit ocean. "You're not going back, are you?"

Kaira didn't answer. She stared out at the nothingness that was the ocean, unblinking, full of thought but no emotion.

(End flashback)

"Wait," Blank interrupted. "Draco can transform into a wolf too?"

Kaira looked at him a sighed. _I pour my heart out to him and all he does is asks a question about Draco? _"That wasn't suppose to be the point of the story, but yes. The Dragon of Neutrality has the power of shape-shifting. It makes him somewhat of a peace-keeper between all species."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you."

"No, that's basically where the story ends. Kilala had followed me out of the village and showed up with Draco. The three of us left the village, traveled all over Gaia, and a couple years later ended up with you guys in Lindblum."

"So that's why you didn't wanna come back."

Kaira nodded, staring down at the dusty ground beneath them.

"I think it's good you came back. I mean, obviously some of the people here really missed you."

Kaira glanced up at him teasingly. "Would _you_ miss me?"

"Eh...I...Of course, I'd miss you," Blank stuttered, feeling his heart about to beat out of his chest. "You're one of the few people who's actually treated me like a human being instead of some monster."

The two sat silently for a moment, not quite sure what to say or do. Neither one realized what had happened, but the next thing Blank knew his lips were pressed gently against hers. _...How did this happen? OH MY GOSH! _Blank and Kaira both turned their head away from each other, both not able to hide their blushing faces. _Did I do that or did she? I wonder if she liked it...I wonder if _I _liked it. _

"I uh...I should probably get back to the others." Blank stood and made his way back towards the main village, away from the horse pens.

_Did I do that or did he?_ Kaira thought to herself as she watched Blank walk away. _I wonder if he liked it...I wonder if _I _liked it. Oh hell, what did I do! What was I thinking? I _wasn't _thinking! ...crap... _Kaira stood and walked over to the fence where her horse Fire Dancer was kept. Kaira hopped over the wooden fence with ease and made her way to the beautiful reddish tinted mare. "You're lucky, Fire. You don't have to think about stuff like this," Kaira said as she rubbed the horse's face affectionately.

Back at the house that the group was staying in, the old woman from before who had led them here was sitting amongst the group, chatting about this and that. Blank walked into the house to find them awkwardly talking about Baku's sex life.

"So while I was in this position," Baku's strikes a pose. "She was down like th– "

"Did I walk in at a bad time...?" Blank asked, intentionally interrupting his boss whom Blank now had a totally different opinion of...at least until this image was out of his head.

"God bless you, Blank," Ruby said blandly.

"I'm...not even gonna ask how all that got started," Blank added, sitting down beside Marcus and Ruby.

"Well, I'm glad that you're back now, Ri...I mean Blank. After all, you're the reason you all came here, or so I've been told." The old woman frequently glanced at Blank's left arm and the strange, black dragon that flew on it unmoving. "I don't think I ever properly introduced myself. My name is Zayrrim Asakura. I'm one of three elders in this village. I believe I've already been introduced to all of you. Draco," the woman nodded her head politely to the dragon-in-human-form, "it's good to see you again, dear. You have been greatly missed."

The man nodded his head back and gave her a weak smile.

"Tell me, dragon, have you informed them on everything they should know? If you have, then they should have nothing left to question."

"I only told them what I knew for sure to be facts. I didn't want to accidentally tell him a lie." Draco was referring to Blank when he said this, and Blank knew it.

"I see..." said the elderly woman. "Come with me, Draco." The woman stood up from the group. "Pardon us, everyone. I apologize to you all, but I must make you wait just a little longer before I can give you the information you seek. Draco and I have matters that must be discussed." She motioned for Draco to follow, and the two left the stone house.

"...That was weird..." Zidane stated bluntly.

"Yeah..." Dagger agreed.

"Hey," Eiko chimed in. "Maybe they're plotting against us and the ladies here are gonna brutally murder us, and it was all Draco's job to lure us here!"

"..." Everyone stared at Eiko blankly.

"What...? It could happen..." Eiko's face turned pink as she pretended to look out the window and ignore the confused stares coming from all over the room.

A few minutes later, Zayrrim reentered the stone house with a grim expression on her face. Her face had been similar to this the whole time, but somehow, Blank thought her expression to be more dark now than it had previously been. He prayed to whatever god he could think of that he was wrong; but after the old woman spoke, Blank knew he was right. "Come, all of you...Blank, there's something I must show you," That was all Zayrrim said.

Kaira walked in the door moments later, glancing at everyone in confusion of why the old woman looked so down. The wolf-girl avoided eye contact with Blank, and noted that he was doing the same to her. Zidane also noted this fact...He made a mental note to question Blank about this later.

"Where did Draco fly off to?" Kaira asked the elderly woman.

"To fetch the other dragons."

"But why? Are we going to the temple?"

"...yes..."

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Man, I got a lot of work to do...I haven't updated any of my fan fictions in so long...oh well...  
--singing-- Hi ho hi ho it's off to work I go... --sigh-- Please leave a review!


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